Concussion knowledge has changed our course of action over the last 20 years. I can go back to 2001, when we published the first consensus. It really wasn't until 2012 that the consensus said we could return athletes back to play in the same game, if they didn't have symptoms.
I think now we're all in agreement that concussion is a serious problem, a serious injury, and that if there is any suspicion, we need to remove the player from play and then go through a stepwise protocol and process to get him back. I can say that, even speaking in terms of professional athletes, who include CFL and NHL athletes, we have seen that approach: removing players from play even on suspicion, and not having them go back until they've gone through the stepwise process.
If we look at the CFL and the NHL—I'm speaking for professional athletes—the time frame before we've allowed them to go back and play has increased, just because now we're more concerned with safety than with allowing players to go back with the risk of getting another concussion or of endangering their health.
I think it's changing and is going to continue to change. Referring back to the guidelines and where people are in different parts of the country, the consensus provides very simple guidelines and can be enacted by all medical people in various parts of the country. It's really pretty simple.
The biggest thing is that we want them removed from play and we want them rested, but not rested in the sense that they have to not do anything—we allow them to do daily activities in the stepwise process—and there is educating them on symptoms, and certainly no going back until they are free from symptoms and, from our perspective in hockey and from the professional perspective, until they get the clearance from their physician.