MONTREAL – Some physiotherapists are making sure they’re ahead of the game when it comes to concussions.
They are taking special training to be able to better deal with what is becoming a growing concern in sports.
One of those physiotherapists is retired Canadian soccer player, Isabelle Morneau.
As you may know, she represented Canada in the FIFA’s women’s World Cup in 1995, 1999 and 2003.
But what you may not have known is that throughout her decade-long career Morneau suffered multiple concussions.
“How many? I have no idea,” she said. “I mean big ones, I had to stay out of soccer for four months, that was my biggest one.”
As a professional athlete, she said, the pressure was always on to be on the field and perform.
“Being injured has such a big impact,” said Morneau. “You have to get back on the bench and you want to be one of the 11 players on the field, so you don’t wanna say that you’re injured.”
So now, as a physiotherapist, Morneau is getting better educated on concussions.
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Dr. Cameron Marshall, president and founder of Complete Concussion Management, enlightened Action Sports physiotherapists, chiropractors and osteopaths with protocols for diagnosing and managing concussion injuries for amateur athletes.
“What do we do when a concussion comes in, what are the first steps, what are the second steps and what type of information should patients be aware of,” explained Marshall.
He said although concussions are being recognized and spoken about more today in professional sports, when it comes to amateur leagues, more progress is still needed.
“In the NHL, you’ll have a team physician, you’ll have a team training staff, you’ll have people that are looking out for you,” he said. “But for pee-wee hockey or for hockey football, they often don’t have ready the team physician standing on the sidelines ready to assess them.”
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Which is why Action Sports Physio decided to step in and provide this kind of training for their physios.
“We want to be able to use that to help us to return the individuals, be it athletes or just someone who falls on the street and has a concussion, whether it is back to their sport and work in a very safe way,” said Urbano Ciccarelli, Action Sports Physio co-founder and physiotherapist.
That way, when concussions do happen, those like Morneau, will be better prepared.
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