The Ride To The Rink: Got Your Bell Rung? Here’s What To Do Next (With Dr. Baric)

Hello, hockey skaters and goalies around the world. Welcome to another edition of

the Ride to the

Rink, kids. Listen, we've got a topic today, not your favorite topic, but we have to

talk about it.

So I want you to listen. Your parents are going to be next to you on this one, kind

of nodding.

We're talking about concussions today, all right? And it's very important as a

young player that

you have some baseline information on what a concussion is and why you need to

be aware of it and

what you can do. If one ever happens, all right, because it's a very, very important

thing for you

to understand how your brain works. So we're bringing in our friend today, Dr.

Baric. He is a

concussion expert. We find the best for you. And the first question I have for you,

Dr. Baric, is

to make sure that we let the kids know just what is a concussion. We've all heard

the word, right,

kids? But what is a concussion? So basically, you get a bump to the head. And in

that bump,

what happens inside is the brain. isn't able to process energy, the brain starts to

swell slightly,

and also the brain's not able to throw out the trash. And that is basically,

in summary, three systems fell in a very quick order, and it starts to affect your

whole body.

And Dr. Baric, share with kids why it's so important for them to be honest with

their parents if

they're not feeling well, and what kinds of symptoms might they be experiencing?

So it's super

important. The research has shown Christy, that when somebody has any type of a

head injury,

they are more likely to get a second one. They're more likely because they don't

have those same

protective mechanisms. And it's just, look, we can't see from how you're feeling on

your inside.

Are you grumpy? Are you angry? Or is your sleep disrupted? You just got to tell,

you got to tell

the loved ones, your parents, your coaches in your life. Hey, after that last game, I

got a hit.

And just things are different. School's harder. I'm not sleeping as good. I'm

irritable. And why is

that so important? Here's the thing. This is a game, and this game is so important.

And the nextgame, of course, is so important. But is it more important than playing next year?

Because what I've seen so many times, they get a little head bump, and then they

go back on the ice

too early. They get another head bump, and their career's over. They're done.

They're done. You

know, I want to play that next game. Absolutely. I know how important it is. But is it

more

important than the next year? I'm going to be bigger. I'm going to be stronger. I'm

going to be

able to train in so many different ways. So, you know, I'm going to be able to show

up even better

next year. Can you just talk about real quick, you know, now I'm a player. I got hit.

My parents didn't see it. My coach didn't notice. What are the symptoms that I

should really feel?

like in self-diagnosed a little bit where I might say, oh, you know, this is not how I

normally

feel. What are some things that might happen from a concussion that I might want

to raise a red

flag to my parents about? Of course, you could have dizziness. You could have

problems just

thinking, hey, what did I have for lunch yesterday? Oh, where did I go to vacation

last year?

And just stuff that you should know. But when you're, oh, did I go? No,

problems. Right. You know, you're able to do some self-diagnosis. And it's also

real important.

So so pick a few places to look in the arena and you look in one corner and then

you look at the

scoreboard and then you look at this person. And if you look, if you move your

eyes rapidly to

those three places and you're wait a second here, I'm not. This is this information

is as good as

it was an hour ago. Wow. I did take a head bump. I think I'm going to sit this one

out.

You know. My last question here, Dr. Baric, is in the kind of hybrid of what Christy

and Mike

said here. Kids, we all in hockey kind of grow up with this we've got to be tough

attitude.

And believe me, if you're playing hockey, you're already pretty tough, kids. I

actually believe

that. Playing the fastest, hardest sport out there. But to Christy's point, if you're

having some

of those symptoms, it is not the time to act tough. because it could really impact

you not playing

or playing in the future, right? So, Dr. Baric, I want to just hear from you again thatif you

are experiencing those symptoms, maybe it's like the situation Mike said. Maybe

people didn't even

notice that you got hit, but you're realizing something's wrong. Should you go to

the coach?

What would you do as a kid to make sure that the coaches, the parents know, hey,

something's wrong?

How would you approach that?

I look at the body in a bunch of different parts. If I bump my leg and it's sore, I'm

going to

skate through that. I don't have a broken bone. But when I bump my head, that's a

totally different

category. It's really, you know, the pros, what do the pros do?

The pros skate over to the box. They sit down. They say to their coach and say,

hey, I need to get

checked out. Something's not right. Because they know they want to play that

next game. They want

to play that next season. They want to be the Olympian. They want to be on the

All-Stars. you are

so set up for that injury. It's okay to miss that practice. It's okay to have somebody

check you

out and say, oh yeah, okay, good. It was, it was less, but, but you know, you're all,

I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. Boom. I have that second injury because I don't, my

protective

mechanisms aren't there. And then as a result, my season's over, my career's over.

Right. No,

it's a great point. And again, kids listening, it's important that you have this

information. It's

important that you know this on the bench. And there's just nothing wrong if

something's really off

to say, I don't want to play. Kids, I'll tell you this too. I'm sure I'm going to get a lot

of nods

from everybody. We said this on the big episode too. There is no game. There is no

game,

even a championship game that is worth you injuring your brain to the point that it

cannot be

repaired well or it can't be repaired at all. There's no game worth that. I already

know,

kids, you're going to play through the bruises, like Dr. Baric just said. But when it

comes to

your head, it's not time to mess around, especially when your brain's still

developing. Does

anybody have any final thoughts before I close this out?

Wow, everybody's in agreement. That's always a good thing. All right, listen, kids,if you're

listening to this show, remember, wherever you're at in your hockey journey, we

believe you. you

should too thanks dr Baric for being here with us today and talking to the kids

christy and mike

kids remember to have fun skate hard learn something today and enjoy your

hockey we'll see you on

the next ride to the ring thanks everybody