My thanks to the chair and the honourable committee members for the opportunity to come here today and speak with you.
I'd like to focus my comments on three areas: first off, the long-term implications of sport injuries; secondly, where are we at with sport injury prevention; and finally, what are our options.
With respect to the long-term implications for sport injuries, both individually and collectively in terms of their impact on the health care system, these are significant. The 2005 general social survey showed that 7.3 million Canadians, 28% of them 15 years of age and older, were engaged in some form of sport and physical activity. This is approximately 59% of the population. Unfortunately, it also represents a 20% decline in participation rates from 1992. Paralleling that, we are seeing a rise in obesity rates, not just in our youth but across all age groups.
From an economic perspective, the SMARTRISK 2009 “Economic Burden of Injury” report found that sports-related injuries cost the Canadian health care system approximately $188 million in direct and indirect costs. This is simply a snapshot of the scale of these injuries, because these are the ones that are reported at hospitals and actually capture data on a very small category: either you were struck by a piece of sporting equipment, like a puck or a stick or a baseball, or you ran into something, like the boards, a net, or things of that nature. It's not capturing all of the information that we need.
Recent work in the area of sports concussion has also revealed a very strong relationship between multiple concussions—so athletes having two or more concussions throughout their career—and Alzheimer-like symptoms such as cognitive impairment, loss of memory, dizziness, and things of that nature. And we have yet to have been able to calculate what the long-term emotional, personal, and economic impact of those types of injuries will be both for the individuals, their family, and our society.
But even with limited data, the impact of sports-related injury is clear. Furthermore, we don't know the implication sport injuries have on participation rates of children and youth. For example, are kids quitting sports because they're getting hurt, or they fear being injured? Or are they not even bothering to participate because they're afraid of getting hurt, or their parents perceive the sports as being too dangerous, and keeping them out of sport?
That said, we all know that the benefits of physical activity outweigh the risks, but there are risks that are preventable, and we have to find a way not only to prevent them, but at least reduce their incidence where we can. There are several ways we can work to accomplish those goals.
As an academic, I would be remiss if I didn't focus on research. I wouldn't be doing what I get paid for. But from a research perspective, the sport injury research, both domestically and globally, really has exploded in the last two decades, which is a recognition of our area, understanding and pursuing this more deeply.
Many of the research initiatives have entailed injury surveillance as well as efforts to determine the causes of those types of injuries as well as to develop prevention programs. Looking at the research and examining those few research centres—for example, the sport injury prevention research group at the University of Calgary—their focus on sport injury is clear that everybody's counting what's happening: the number of head shots that lead to concussions, the number of knee injuries, and things of that nature. And they're doing a good job of describing what's happening.
As valuable as this information is, they are not exploring or explaining how and why behaviour plays a role in injury, or how external factors influence this type of behaviour—for example, the pressure to win on both players and coaches, the pressure to make it to the next level.
From a government perspective, we are starting to see some recognition of injury and injury prevention as a significant health-related issue. For example, the federal government's throne speech last fall drew attention to the fact that there is a need to address the issue of injury prevention. Even in 2005, the ministers of health document “Creating a Healthier Canada: Making Prevention a Priority” articulates a need to focus on injury prevention. While none of these documents specifically speaks to sport injury, we can certainly imply its presence within their documentation.
What are our options? We can continue to count and describe injuries, but in doing so we need to capture more information in order to understand sport injuries more fully.
More importantly, we need to shift our thinking from merely injury prevention to sports safety, to emphasize that injuries are not inevitable; they are not an inherent part of playing sports. One way we can accomplish that is through skills-based education programs such as Play it Cool, the program in which I am involved.
What is Play it Cool, and how does it differ? It's a safety-oriented intervention program aimed at reducing injuries in minor hockey. The beauty about a program like Play it Cool is it's adaptable to any sport. It provides an online education program that helps coaches learn to teach skills, but with an emphasis on safety.
Going into the initial project we asked kids why they wanted to be good skaters. Overwhelmingly the answer was, from the boys at least, “Well, it means I'll get to go to the NHL”. That is fine and admirable, but the real reason is, “If I get bumped or take a hit, I'm stable, I can absorb it, and I'll be less likely to get hurt”.
We're not changing the game of hockey. We're trying to change the way we think about hockey to give the kids all the skills, in both hockey and all the other sports, to play successfully and for a long period of time. More importantly, we're also trying to help those who are educating these young people to rethink the way they approach teaching skills so the emphasis is on safety, and not simply trying to be the next Wayne Gretzky or Sidney Crosby, or things of that nature.
What would we like to see from a government perspective? Help us understand sports injuries and their implications more thoroughly by enhancing the injury surveillance systems we have in place, as well as helping us to develop new systems and new expanding partnerships.
Help us raise awareness of the seriousness of this type of injury. By elevating sports injuries as a distinct category, such as traffic and suicide, through a national sports-focused safety policy and related infrastructure for coordination, implementation, and support, we can help the public understand that it's not okay for kids to get hurt playing their favourite sports. It's not a normal part of the game.
Help us work toward solutions and best practices. By helping us improve collaborations and partnerships between researchers and injury prevention advocates, both governmental and non-governmental, and lead health and sports agencies, we can come to viable solutions to reduce the incidence of injuries in sports.
Finally, help us shift thinking from prevention to promotion of safety and safe sports.
Thank you.