Concussion prevention and treatment is becoming more and more at the forefront in professional sports, but they happen just as frequently in minor sports.

The CBI Health Group here in Moose Jaw is starting to provide a concussion program that can help diagnose and treat the brain injury for local athletes.

“What we’re starting to offer is Impact Computerized Neurocognitive Test,” said Derek Kletzel with the CBI Health Group. “Basically it’s a computerized test to help figure out what we need to do with athletes that are suspected to have a concussion.”

Athletes will be able to go into the office in downtown Moose Jaw anytime and do some baseline testing. Then if that athlete is suspected of having a concussion, they redo the test and that helps to determine what course of action is needed from there.

The program is being used by the Moose Jaw Warriors and across the Western Hockey League, as well as many professional sports teams, including the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins, and a number of top NCAA college football programs, like the Ohio State Buckeyes.

More and more research is coming out every year about the impact of concussions. Just this week, Boston University’s School of Medicine and the VA Boston Healthcare System released their findings from a CTE study that found that 99 percent of brains they studied from NFL players had the disease caused by repeated head trauma.

In that same study, three out of 14 high school athletes also had mild cases of the disease.

Kletzel said this is one way that they can help athletes protect themselves from doing serious damage.

“Concussions are a very difficult injury for team medical staff or an individual athlete to diagnose and to manage, and this is just one step to help in that process,” he said. “It’s important to have the baseline testing so you know what you’re comparing to if you suspect that you have a concussion.”

Professional teams have some of the best doctors in the world working to keep them healthy and watch for signs of a concussion, but for younger, minor sport athletes, that isn’t available to them.

The CBI Health Group is hoping that they can step in and help in that area.

“Too often they’re left on their own to try and figure out why they’re feeling the way that they’re feeling,” said Kletzel. “This way if you have that baseline test, if you’re not feeling well for a variety of reasons or maybe you hit your head or took a hard hit, you can go and have somebody help you.”

To take the baseline test, the cost is $25 and they will store the results for whenever they’re needed in case of a head injury.

Kletzel said the test is very sophisticated as well.

“You can’t sandbag it, it can detect that. It detects if you have brain fatigue, for example if you exercise up to three hours before the test, it will pick that up as well,” he said. “It’s FDA approved and as far as I know it’s the only test that is that way.”

The test will help confirm if you have a concussion and then Kletzel said they can help you take the next steps towards recovery.

“We have a concussion protocol that we can follow along and we can also determine if there needs to be medical treatment, a lot of times with a concussion, there’s neck issues and other issues, and then we can give the right steps to work towards a return to play,” he said.

The CBI Health Group is the first clinic in Saskatchewan to offer the baseline testing. You can contact them for more information at 306-692-4413.

“Something that is really lacking is the right steps to take if you suspect a concussion and that’s one thing that we’re trying to get involved in,” said Kletzel. “We have some therapists here at our clinic that are really passionate about concussion treatment and making sure that athletes are following the right protocols and getting back to their sports at the right time.”