TORONTO, ON. October 19, 2016 – With the Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s (CWHL) milestone 10th season underway, the CWHL has announced the implementation of a universal, league-wide concussion management program through Canadian-based, Complete Concussion Management Inc. (CCMI). This announcement comes just days after the National Hockey League’s (NHL) star Sidney Crosby was sidelined yet again due to a reported third concussion. The CWHL, North America’s second oldest women’s professional sports league, has become a leader in the sporting industries worldwide initiative to overcome the current concussion problem in sport.
Dr. Laura Cruz, Medical Advisor / League Physician for the CWHL and Toronto-based Sports Medicine Physician noted that “While we recognize that concussions can never be fully prevented, if they are managed appropriately and promptly we can better protect the players’ long-term health and hopefully, safely reduce the amount of playing time missed due to concussion.”
Complete Concussion Management Inc., a global research and concussion care organization is working with a number of Canadian sports organizations and schools to help implement evidence-based concussion management policies and procedures.
“Through our network of close to 200 trained clinical facilities linked through advanced technology such as shared electronic medical records as well as injury tracking and reporting smartphone technology, we are able to provide a comprehensive and standardized solution to the concussion problem both at the local club-level and the provincial or national levels”, said CCMI President Dr. Cameron Marshall “A major problem in both amateur and professional sports is that it’s tough to achieve consistency from city to city, clinic to clinic, or even doctor to doctor. This program provides a standardized, evidence-based approach across the country, which I think appealed to the CWHL as a way to provide a uniform protocol league-wide.”
The CWHL concussion policy for the upcoming 2016-17 season includes having each player undergo an intensive battery of both physical and mental pre-season baseline tests, training of all team therapists, and having all suspected concussions cleared and managed both by a CCMI certified clinician as well as a sports physician appointed by the league prior to an athlete returning to play.
Together, CCMI and the CWHL hope that this partnership will be a stepping-stone to improving the way concussions are managed not just in professional sports, but also to showcase a new standard and culture in sport that will be passed down to our youth and future athletes.
Complete Concussion Management is a national research and concussion care organization with a network of clinical facilities across the country. By providing training on the most current, research-based, best practices within concussion to health care providers, as well as coaches and training staff, CCMI provides a viable solution to the most common concussion problems. CCMI not only provides evidence based concussion care services to athletes and concussed patients, but also uses this data to help further concussion research for the rest of the world and the future health of athletes.
The CWHL is the most premier, professionally-run women’s hockey league in the world. It enables elite female hockey players to pursue their dreams of competing at the highest level possible while enhancing the lives of others through exceptional athleticism, entertainment, and motivation. The league is centrally funded, with all participating teams in the CWHL receiving equal access to financial support and given the same opportunities to succeed. The CWHL is a not-for-profit organization, with every dollar going towards building a league that is dedicated to raising the profile of women’s hockey, providing a place for the best female players in the world to compete and inspiring the next generation of female hockey heroines.
Website: thecwhl.com
Facebook: TheCWHL
Twitter:@TheCWHL
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