Kinesiology PhD student Nikolaus Dean explores the attitudes toward concussion among surfers on BC's coast

Kinesiology PhD student Nikolaus Dean explores the attitudes toward concussion among surfers on BC’s coast

Canada’s west coast surf culture downplays concussion risk

Nikolaus Dean suffered a debilitating concussion playing varsity lacrosse during his first year of university. His post-concussion symptoms persisted for a year before doctors cleared him to return to the sport he loved. After his first practice back, he decided the risk wasn’t worth it and walked away.

Since then, the UBC kinesiology PhD student has taken up surfing and academic research. For his master’s thesis, he explored attitudes toward concussion among surfers on B.C.’s west coast, where the Surf Canada Nationals and Olympic trials were held on May 10-15 in Tofino.

We asked Dean what he learned by interviewing 12 members of Canada’s west coast surfing community.

Why did you decide to look into surfers’ attitudes toward concussion?

Most concussion research has focused on team sports, contact sports and more traditional sports. Nobody has really looked at non-contact sports, individual sports and more alternative sports, despite the fact that there are epidemiology studies suggesting that concussion is occurring at high rates.

How high are concussion rates among surfers?

I found that head injuries are the second most common injury in surfing after lacerations. Studies suggest that surf-related concussion accounts for three to 37 per cent of those head injuries. But concussion is so hard to quantify and get accurate numbers on. A person may have had a concussion without knowing it, and may not have reported it to the study, so those numbers are guidelines. What they do suggest is that concussions are occurring in surfing at a rate on par with mainstream sports.

What attitudes did the surfers in your study have toward concussion?

Generally, they showed irreverent attitudes toward the injury. They would often downplay or trivialize the severity of it. It shows that they’re willing to accept the risks of playing injured, and to push through concussive injuries. This has been shown before in more traditional sporting contexts, but now it’s also being displayed in individual, non-contact, non-traditional contexts. It’s really interesting when you think about that, because surfers don’t have teammates or coaches who may be pressuring them to play through injuries. Those external factors were absent.

Then why do they do it?

There were three main factors. The first was time. Maybe they had a limited time within a surf area. For example, if they had travelled to get to a remote spot, they would be more inclined to surf through a concussion. Or if the injury happened on the first wave of the day, they would be more likely to stay out and surf through it.

The second factor was having others present in the water. Although they don’t have teammates, coaches or trainers, a number of surfers said they’d be more willing to push through a concussion if they were out surfing with friends.

And the last factor, which I thought was one of the most interesting, was wave conditions. A number of them said that was the No. 1 reason they would continue to surf through a concussion. It was quite telling that wave conditions would dictate that.

Why don’t surfers know more about concussion?

There’s little information for surfers right now. There are no surf-oriented return-to-play protocols. There are no concussion waivers—something a surf rental shop gives out that tells you the symptoms and what to look for in a concussion, then you sign it and hold yourself responsible for pulling yourself out to appropriately deal with a concussion. We are seeing those things in other alternative sports like snowboarding, but surfing doesn’t have that.

Is the situation improving?

I think this topic will only grow due to the mainstreaming of the sport, with it moving into the Olympics and becoming an international sport. I hope more attention is given to it in the future, and people take it a little more seriously.

___________________________________________________

* Since we posted this article, the topic of surfer concussions has gained some public attention. The Globe and Mail published an article on August 25, 2019 titled, Surfers off Canada’s West Coast face significant risks of concussions. UBC researcher, Nikolaus Dean is quoted in the article.

Marilyn Pomfret (1932 – 2019), Professor Emerita

It is with great sadness the School has learned that Emerita, Marilyn Pomfret passed away April 24, 2019 at Vancouver General Hospital. Marilyn was an important member in the School’s community and will be profoundly missed.

Marilyn was one of the most celebrated of the School of Kinesiology’s alumni, having graduated with a Bachelor’s in Physical Education in 1954. She was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, UBC Sports Hall of Fame, named a YWCA Woman of Distinction and was a recipient of a UBC Alumni Association Achievement Award, in the Faculty Community Service category.

Marilyn taught high school, primarily in West Vancouver, for nine years. She then returned to UBC in 1963 to teach in the Department of Physical Education, at the same time taking on the position of Head Coach of UBC’s Women’s volleyball team. During her eleven years as coach she guided her team to three Western Canadian championships and two CIS titles, including UBC’s first in Women’s Volleyball.

While teaching and coaching at UBC, Marilyn assumed the role of UBC’s Women’s Athletic Director, where she became acknowledged as a true “Builder” in the sport community. Her dedication to the principals of equality and co-operation secured increased funding, athletic opportunities, and participation for female athletes. Marilyn established the Canadian Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Union in 1974, which she then helped to amalgamate with the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (now Canadian Interuniversity Sport) in 1980.

On the Board of Directors of both Canada West and CIS Athletic Associations, Marilyn, in 1986, was awarded the Austin-Matthews Award for outstanding contribution to the development of university sport in Canada. UBC’s most prestigious female athletic award, given to the year’s outstanding female athlete, was in 1984 re-named in Marilyn Pomfret’s honour. Marilyn was recently featured as one of Education’s 100 as part of the UBC Faculty of Education’s Year of Alumni celebrations.

Marilyn will be remembered for her dedication to her community, as well as to women’s sports, which opened many doors of opportunity for female athletes not only at UBC, but across Canada. Our deepest condolences to her husband Jack, and family, whom she leaves behind.

Details for her Celebration of Life will be provided once confirmed.

 

Ramsden, Rachel

Rachel Ramsden graduated from the School of Kinesiology in 2013. While originally attracted to the program with an interest in sport and physical activity, Rachel’s interests evolved to focus on community-level policy and programming that support healthy communities. Rachel decided to pursue her newfound interest in community programming, and continued her education with a Master’s degree in Public Health at the School of Population and Public Health at UBC, graduating in 2015.

While completing her Master’s degree, Rachel grew more and more involved in the public health field, particularly where it aims to help children and youth. She began working with the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute — her research involved analyzing injury data within BC’s local health authorities, focusing on concussions among children and youth. Rachel was also a member of the CIHR Team in Child & Youth Injury Prevention and worked on updating the Injury Data Online Tool (iDOT), an online injury data platform for injury prevention practitioners and professionals, as well as the public.

Rachel continues to be passionate about helping and protecting the youth in our communities. Since 2016, she continues to research injury data with the BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit, and is now the Child Care Planner at the City of Richmond. Her role in Richmond includes facilitating best practice design and safety features into indoor and outdoor municipal early child development settings, as well as providing policy and programming for early child development and child health in the community.

This fall, Rachel will return to UBC to pursue a PhD in the School of Population and Public Health. Studying under the supervision of Dr. Mariana Brussoni and Dr. Ian Pike, she intends to map the patterns of children in outdoor environments, focusing on the physical movements that occur when children partake in unstructured play. Her research will aim to understand common outdoor environment components and evaluate their safety, play and physical activity worth.

The School of Kinesiology allowed Rachel to experience an interdisciplinary approach to health, physical activity and child development, creating an optimal setting to discover a unique employment and research path. As a previous member of the UBC Varsity Women’s Soccer team, sport still remains an important part of Rachel’s life. She now coaches soccer in her local community and hopes that through her research, employment and community work, she can make an impact on supporting physical activity opportunities for children.

 

 

,

Congratulations Krista Glowacki!

May 7, 2019 – Congratulations to Pop-PA Lab member Krista Glowacki on her advancement to candidacy!

New Paper Out

May 2, 2019 – New paper out by Matthew Fagan, Mark Duncan, Dr. Lira Yun and Dr. Guy Faulkner titled Moving away from depression: Physical activity changes in patients undergoing r-TMS for major depressive disorder

School of Kinesiology banner wins platinum Hermes Creative Award

The School of Kinesiology and UBC Studios are proud to announce that the new KIN banner installed received a platinum Hermes Creative Award in the category of Print Media – Outdoor Advertising on May 1, 2019.

The Hermes Creative Awards are administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals, which has been ongoing since 1994.

The banner features Scarlett Sparrow-Felix, a young athlete from the Musqueam community. It celebrates the heritage of the School of Kinesiology, and the Department of Athletics and Recreation housed within the War Memorial Gym. It is an acknowledgment that UBC stands on ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people, and Scarlett’s family history. The banner symbolizes the future and the recognition of history, people, and place, and the important role the School of Kinesiology, and Athletics and Recreation play in the evolution of the university.

More information can be found here: https://hermesawards.com/

The School would like to thank UBC Studios for their design support throughout the project and UBC photographer Paul Joseph, as well as Scarlett Sparrow-Felix for her enthusiastic participation, Elder Gail Sparrow for her support and blessing, Rosalin Miles for her engagement with the Musqueam community, Kavie Toor for his collaboration on the banner project, and President Ono for his generous support of the project.

Lam, Joyce

Joyce Lam, BKin 2017, discovered her passion for neuroscience in her undergraduate years at the School of Kinesiology, where her involvement in on-campus labs as a student broadened her knowledge and experience within the field of research.

In 2015, Joyce began working as a Work Learn student in the Frontotemporal Dementia Research Program at UBC Hospital. This experience served as a jumpstart into her career in academic research – not only did she gain valuable insight into working and conducting research in a clinical setting, but she learned much about neurodegenerative diseases, and was able to expand her network in the field of neurology. In 2016, Joyce continued on her path in neurology and went on to volunteer as a research assistant in Dr. Doris Doudet’s laboratory, at UBC Hospital’s Brain Research Centre. This position eventually led her to pursue her Master of Science in Neuroscience under the supervision of Dr. Doudet, of which she is now in her final year. Her Master’s project aims to assess and to further characterize a novel progressive preclinical model of Parkinson’s disease.

Joyce was also a recipient of the 2017 Faculty of Medicine Summer Student Research Program Award. Working with Dr. Ian Scott and Dr. Kevin Eva at the Centre of Health Education Scholarship, she helped develop and carry out an experiment that investigated the effects of test-enhanced learning in first-year Medical students.

Outside academics, Joyce has been highly involved in her community. She is a part of the Vancouver Investors Group Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer’s planning committee since 2017. She is also a regular volunteer at several local organizations and serves on numerous committees at UBC, including the President’s UBC Vancouver Non-Academic Misconduct Committee. Because of her long and varied record of volunteering and community service, she is one of three students across all years and programs selected to receive the 2019 Edward JC Hossie Leadership Award. It is UBC’s highest award given annually to three students who have demonstrated exceptional leadership through volunteerism, community service and/or campus activities.

Joyce is extremely passionate about neuroscience, particularly when it intersects with the study of neurodegenerative diseases. After defending her Master’s thesis in August 2019,  she continues her academic journey at UBC to pursue a PhD in Neuroscience, with a research focus on identifying gut microbial shifts in Parkinson’s disease. She aims to apply to medical programs after obtaining her PhD. Joyce’s ultimate professional goal is to combine her academic, clinical and volunteer experiences and become a physician-scientist in the field of neurodegeneration.

Joyce’s Advice: “The journey to graduation is not always smooth and predictable. It is perfectly fine to take some time off or change your academic path no matter how far along you are in your studies.”

,

Bi, Mark

Mark Bi graduated with an MA in Kinesiology in 2005 with a specialization in Sports Marketing and Management. Mark now travels frequently for work between Vancouver and Shanghai. In 2013, Mark founded Juihui Investment in Shanghai and invested in two new media companies, Shanghai Lilong New Media (where he served as VP Operations), and Shanghai Zheng’an Information Technology.

Prior to working with Lilong, Mark was Director of Operations at Relay China, a subsidiary of the advertising company Publicis Groupe – considered to be one of the top three advertising companies in the world. As a Kin alumnus, Publicis Groupe proved to be an excellent fit for Mark, as one of Publicis Groupe’s core tenants is based on the desire to be a force for good. They wish to help transform health and wellness business marketing through the integration of creativity and technology. During Mark’s tenure at Relay China and Lilong New Media, he designed and executed sports marketing plans and campaigns for international brands such as Budweiser, Coca Cola, NBA, NFL, Haier, TCL, Chinamobile, and Tsingtao Beer, including the Olympic Torch Relay, sponsorship events for FIFA World Cup, and the NBA International Games.

Recently, Mark decided to bring his expertise back to Vancouver, where he founded Jiuhui Tydo Incubator. Simply known as TYDO in BC, Mark provides three services to start-up companies and entrepreneurs: raising funds, connecting clients to big brands and the Chinese market, and providing operational advice. True to Mark’s Kinesiology roots, TYDO’s investment interests lie in the life science, digital healthcare, and innovation in sport sectors.

Last year, TYDO helped to raise $1.5 million for GenXys, a precision prescribing software company, founded by UBC Faculty of Medicine’s faculty and alumni. TYDO is currently looking for other potential BC start-ups in which to invest and will be working closely with UBC Kin to support innovation.

 

, ,

Cunnings, Don

Don Cunnings (left) is a highly respected 1962 UBC Physical Education graduate who, coming out of the Recreation program created by Bob Osborne and Dick Ramsay, became one of the early provincial pioneers in the development of parks and recreation. His extensive and varied career has been acknowledged by his 2012 induction into the Coquitlam Sports Hall of Fame, his 2013 Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and his 2014 Freedom of the City, Coquitlam’s highest honour. The Freedom of the City recognizes his long-term contributions to the city, both in his professional capacity and as a volunteer.

As a younger man Cunnings was a nationally-ranked gymnast, and later became an innovative gymnastics coach, a coach of national champions: four of his students captured medals at the 1954 Canadian Gymnastics Championships. Early in his career, Don served as a Recreational Therapist at the Essondale mental health hospital where he played music for catatonic patients which resulted in their increased mobility. This was the beginning of the hospital’s music therapy program.

Specializing in physical education and recreation, Don became Coquitlam’s first Parks and Recreation director. He rose to head the Department of Leisure and Park Services for the City of Coquitlam as its director, a position he held until his retirement in 1994. He is credited with being one of the founding fathers of the BC Recreation Association — he served as its president in 1963 and 1964. The City of Coquitlam, Douglas College, and the School District of Coquitlam jointly named “Cunnings Field” in Coquitlam in his honour in 1999. Cunnings is also known for the founding and directing of Coquitlam Search and Rescue in 1973.

In the future, Don would like to see leaders and visionaries embrace the importance of a livable community, particularly in regards to health and aging. Don was featured as one of Education’s 100 as part of the UBC Faculty of Education’s Year of Alumni celebrations.

, ,

Olenick, Norm

Norm Olenick is widely known in the Physical Education community as the one who started and developed the Recreation and Physical Education programs at Langara College. These programs have since expanded to be the centre for the development of our leaders in Recreation. As it has turned out, Langara and the work of Olenick has filled the Recreation/Physical Education training role that was once served by UBC.

Norm attained his Bachelor’s degree of Physical Education in 1963 and his Masters in 1965, both at UBC. For over 30 years 1970 – 2002 he was a faculty member at Langara, many years Chair of the Physical Education and Recreation department. Over the years Norm helped develop Langara’s Academic Diplomas in Physical Education, Fitness and Leisure studies. He provided advisory and instructional services in these areas to post secondary institutions including UBC’s School of Kinesiology and also coached badminton teams to provincial and national championships.

Norm’s accomplishments are many but has focused on health, fitness, physical education, recreation and coaching. Activity courses, intramural and community sport opportunities are the pursuits he has engaged in all the way back to his student days at UBC. He is known and respected among the UBC intramural community and beyond, for his leadership, instruction and promotion of Physical Education, Recreation and coaching.

Well-respected by his students and colleagues, Norm has received numerous awards for his teaching and coaching from Langara and from the province as well as national awards and awards from students. Regarding Norm, many of his colleagues will agree “Recreation and Physical Education has been his life’s work.”

Fred Hume

April 2019

 

Back to top