A new $2.2-million research centre at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital could yield cutting-edge insight into concussions in youth, an injury experienced by thousands of kids in Ontario each year.

“The goal of the centre is to revolutionize the way that concussion is managed in children and youth,” director Dr. Michelle Keightley said in an interview with the Star. “The long-term plan is really to better understand how the young brain is impacted by concussion.”

Keightley said that research has already found that children take longer to recover than adults and are affected differently by the injury.

The research is particularly significant because of the frequency of concussions. Keightley points out that their research found roughly 10 to 15 per cent of minor hockey players suffer one each year.

READ MORE:Why a blow to the head is a big deal

“That’s 34,000 to 36,000 occurring every year, just in hockey and just in Ontario,” she said. “Any team that we have coming through the door, we know that two or three members on that team are going to get a concussion that year.”

The centre is funded by two grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research totaling $1.2 million and a $1 million contribution from the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association.

The Concussion Research Centre is the continuation of a study that began several years ago by recruiting a group of kids pre-concussion. The research team, which included Keightley and research scientist Dr. Nick Reed, took baseline measurements of the kids’ physical and mental abilities.

Sean Killin, now 16, was one of those kids. He and his team enrolled in the program, whereby Keightley tested his cognitive abilities and upper- and lower-body strength.

Then he got hit.

He was racing for the puck in a minor hockey game when he was knocked off his skates and sent flying head-first into the boards.

After the hit, Killin forgot his birthday. It was a severe concussion. Following the common wisdom at the time, Killin would have been benched for two weeks, then sent back into play.

“That was the common thing. People just knew — concussion, take two weeks off,” said Killin. “Their research concluded it takes a lot more time.”

After the concussion, Killin not only performed worse on cognitive tests but also on physical tests — something that surprised the research team.

“Nobody’s ever really looked at strength before,” said Dr. Keightley. Killin was actually weaker in his arms and his legs after the concussion.

His recovery, under the research team’s close observation, actually took four and a half months.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“They were able to get it back to normal,” said Killin, who continued playing minor hockey until age 14 and suffered another, less severe, concussion.

The centre’s research team is currently seeking 1,400 kids willing to be part of its next round of study subjects for a program that builds on the research in which Killin participated.