Sudbury doc aims to set up concussion clinic

A Sudbury emergency room doctor is hoping to start up a clinic to deal specifically with concussions.

Dr. Chris Bourdon says he doesn't work a shift in the emergency department without seeing at least one concussion.

While concussions are being treated like the serious brain injuries they are, he said they are still very hard to diagnosis.

"The big one is being knocked out. That would be a pretty significantly symptom for a head injury," he said.

"But the vast majority of people that come in with concussions haven't been knocked out. They've sustained a blow of some sort. Sometimes they can't even remember the blow that they've received."

• Protecting players' heads from injury is no cheap endeavour

When athletic events are happening in the city, he usually expects to see a few extra concussions in the hospital.

But he says the brain injuries don't just happen in sport they can happen at work and in everyday life.

There has been increased education on proper equipment, along with improvements to equipment, he said and high profile sports concussions like Sydney Crosby have brought concussions into public discussion

"Some high profile injuries, I think, have pushed this agenda along," Bourdon said.

"[But we're] still seeing a lot of minor traumatic brain injuries, and they're wearing equipment. We're still trying to understand what constitutes safe play."

That's why Bourdon said he's "working on getting a group of like-minded interested providers together to consolidate the resources that we have to put together a concussion clinic."