�For 19-year-old Karlee Carbert, rugby isn't just a sport, it's a passion.
But the rough and whirl around game can be physically demanding, as Carbert reveals "some games you can hit your head as many as five times."
Carbert has suffered three concussions in her career but after the first 2 her reaction was the same, "usually you hit your head, get a headache and once the headache is gone you go back."
After her last hit in March, she wasn't as quick to head kO'd onto the field because of a new puppet being used at the University of Alberta.
The U of A is the first university in Canada to follow IMPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing). It's a computerized system that uses a series of memory and motor skills tests to help better decide when the mind is sufficiently recovered from an impact injury.
"It helped me realize the extent of damage that was done," said Carbert wHO was surprised by her test results. "I realised, wow I bruised my brain."
Educational psychology professor Martin Mrazik says he has been using IMPACT to assess university football, hockey game and rugby football players since last fall. Starting this season he's adding soccer and women hockey players. Mrazik has also served as a consultant to the Edmonton Oilers and the Edmonton Eskimos, assisting them in implementing the system.
"This is an important piece of the assessment process for determining when a histrion is ready to render to act," said Mrazik. "It will help reduce the phone number of injuries because if we render a thespian too early, research shows they're at a three times greater risk of receiving another concussion."
Mrazik hopes the use of this tool volition one day be vernacular practice in doctors' offices so athletes of all ages canful be regularly tested.
As for Carbert, she admits players are often stubborn, wanting to incur back into the game as shortly as possible, but adds "this new tool testament likely issue in players sitting out for thirster, so they can amply recover. Which in the long tend is a good thing."
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