Ontario has seen nearly a 10 per cent drop in sports-related traumatic brain injuries in the year Rowan’s Law came into effect, according to new research released Wednesday.
The study, led by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in partnership with the Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada (CLFC), analyzed hospital data between 2010 and 2019. It found a nine per cent decline in sports-related traumatic brain injuries between 2018 and 2019, coinciding with the introduction of Rowan’s Law — legislation named after Ottawa rugby player Rowan Stringer, who died in 2013 from Second Impact Syndrome after suffering multiple concussions.
“Although our study wasn’t designed to investigate the impact of this policy change, the reduction in sports-related traumatic brain injuries … coinciding with the introduction of Rowan’s Law is noteworthy and definitely warrants further investigation,” said Dr. Jesse Young, CAMH researcher and lead author of the study.
The report also revealed the true scale of the issue: 37 per cent of brain injuries treated in Ontario hospitals between 2010 and 2019 were tied to sports and recreation, triple earlier estimates of 12 per cent.
Tim Fleiszer, former CFL player and CLFC executive director, called the findings “encouraging” but cautioned that causality hasn’t yet been proven. “It does appear that the law is working,” he said. “Having a law, and Ontario has demonstrated this, really suggests a structured approach to handling the problem.”
Introduced in 2018, Rowan’s Law sets mandatory protocols requiring players suspected of having a concussion to be removed from play immediately and assessed by a health-care professional before returning. Advocates say such measures could have saved Rowan Stringer’s life.
While Ontario leads the way in Canada, Fleiszer noted that all 50 U.S. states already have some form of concussion legislation. “We hope this moves across the country,” he said, adding that today is also Rowan’s Law Day in Ontario, when schools across the province raise awareness about concussion safety.