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NEWS > SPORTS > NHL FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE IF PLAYERS ARE BRAIN DAMAGED OR JUST HOCKEY PLAYERS
NHL FINDING IT DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE IF PLAYERS ARE BRAIN DAMAGED OR JUST HOCKEY PLAYERS
February 2 2011
Toronto, Canada – Violent sports are dangerous, that just makes sense. Some sports are calm and pastoral but others have violence integrated into them on a fundamental level and anyone who gets involved in those sports on any level is risking bodily harm. It’s simply part of the job.
Two sports in particular have a reputation for being the most violent, football and hockey. A combination of high speed, big players, and violence being part of the mechanic of playing the game often result in a lot of injuries. Of late, most of the attention to those injuries has revolved around head trauma and the long term damage that can cause.
In the NFL, major measure have been taken to try and reduce the number of head injuries and treating those have been affected. Still, the league will be feeling the effects of those injuries for years to come, just as long as the players themselves, resulting in headaches for both sides. The NHL, however, has not taken as radical an action against the damage and now the real reason behind that apparent apathy has become clear. Simply put, doctors have not been able to determine whether the players are suffering from brain damage, or are just regular hockey players.
“We aren’t trying to get out of our responsibility to these players but the truth is we are taking the cue from the doctors and they are telling us that they just can’t be 
sure the majority of the time. Occasionally they see physical trauma to the brain but not in significantly greater numbers than in the general population. Most of the players have healthy brains, well, physically healthy anyways,” said an NHL insider. “We almost wish there was a smoking gun, at least then we would have a direction but right now we have nothing. These players are sometimes almost catatonic but that really isn’t much different from when they start in the league and so figuring out what happened is really tough.”
Over the last year, a number of former players have committed suicide, acts which were attributed to decreased mental capacity, though again the source of the infirmity has not been established conclusively.
“We want all our players to be healthy, mentally and physically, but there is little we can do until we determine the source of their mental issues. For the most part, they just appear to be normal hockey players and there isn’t much we can do about that,” continued the insider. “No one wants these guys to get dumber as time goes on but right now it doesn’t appear that that has to do with the sport directly. I mean playing hockey instead of going to school yes, but not directly.”
A recent poll found that the majority of players had trouble understanding the questions asked in the poll.
“We are not taking this lightly, not at all. This is important for their health and for us, legally and financially, but there is not a whole lot we have been able to do lately and there does not appear to be anything we will be able to do in the future, unfortunately,” continued the insider. “We want the best for the players but as of right now it doesn’t appear there is much we can do, aside from giving them books which still prove too difficult for the majority of players.”
Simple books with lots of pictures are generally well-received, but nothing more complicated than that.
Alexi Orton, Sports Correspondent
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