UCalgary concussion expert Kathryn Schneider is helping athletes heal faster by treating more than just the brain
We cringe when we see big hits in a hockey game, players going headfirst into the boards, or a wipeout on the ski hill, limbs flailing, skis sliding down the hill without their owner.
Oftentimes, these incidents end with the athlete suffering a concussion, a traumatic brain injury from a blow to the head or body that shakes the brain. In fact, according to a 2023 systematic review in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine , head injuries were the second-most common injury during the Winter Olympics between 1955 and 2021. It can take weeks, months, or sometimes years for someone to fully recover from a concussion. Traditional treatment recommended prolonged rest until the headaches, dizziness, nausea, and sleep problems disappeared.
Shifting how concussions are treated
Reflecting a shift in treatment approach, Dr. Kathryn Schneider , BKin’96, PhD’12, a physiotherapist and associate professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology , explains: "After an initial 24 to 48 hours of rest, we now encourage early, symptom-tolerated physical and cognitive activity. After that initial rest period, we encourage patients to start becoming physically and cognitively active with low-risk activities, as long as symptoms are mild and brief."
Treating more than the brain
Schneider’s research focuses on healing the multiple systems affected by concussion, not just cognitive function: the proprioceptive, visual, and vestibular systems (balance, spatial orientation, and co-ordination of movement).
It was during and following her physiotherapy degree at McMaster University that Schneider became interested in concussion research. She had the opportunity to work with athletes who suffered concussions and developed clinical expertise in evaluating the neck and balance systems.
"I was assessing some of these players and discovered there were changes in the way they were controlling their head-on-neck motion, and some of the balance findings were off as well," she says. "We used different types of treatments, and they improved quite quickly, within two treatments, no longer had symptoms, and were able to gradually return to sport."
The effectiveness of Schneider’s targeted rehabilitation approach is evident. Using these treatment methods, her patients were 10 times more likely to be medically cleared to return to sport within eight weeks of injury than those not treated with the same methods.
From local research to global standards
Nationally, Schneider’s treatment approach helped inform harmonized concussion protocols in Canada, part of a 2015 mandate from former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to develop a national strategy for concussion treatment, focusing on raising awareness among parents, coaches, and athletes. She worked with Parachute Canada , which was leading the charge, and collaborated with each national sport organization to help facilitate and develop sport-specific protocols for concussion and return-to-sport strategies.
She has also had an impact at the global level, co-leading the 6th International Conference on Concussion in Sport, which produced the Amsterdam Consensus , published in 2023.
"The Amsterdam Consensus updated best practices for concussion management, introducing new assessment tools and optimizing concussion care for athletes at all levels," Schneider says. "All of these tools are freely available online in English and French, and we’re working on translating them into 16 different languages."
As we watch the 2026 Winter Olympics, we will likely see a crash or hit that looks to be concussion-causing. This raises the question: Is it possible for an athlete to fake being OK to continue with the competition?
"There are a lot of typical signs that will indicate someone has likely had a concussion," explains Schneider. "In some sports, like hockey, where there are specific signs; the person is removed from play and starts the concussion protocol. A challenge with recognizing a concussion is that symptoms can arise in the hours after an injury and there isn’t one clear biomarker, and the force impact can be relatively minor. A health-care team approach to recognize and treat concussions will best serve the athletes."
Anecdotally, Schneider adds that athletes she worked with 10 or 20 years ago just wanted to get back on the field, but today, they want to understand their injury and make sure they are really ready to go.
"Athletes may think they’re ready to go and will be excited to get back out there, but they may not be able to perform as well, which in turn could hurt their team’s or their personal performance, while also putting themselves at risk for a much more severe injury that could have devastating consequences."
For Schneider, the ultimate goal of her research is to learn how we can best prevent, detect, and manage concussions. She works with athletes, young children, and older adults in the clinic, and learns from those interactions every day.
"I get some of my best research ideas from the conversations I’ve had, either with research participants, my colleagues, or with patients in the clinic," Schneider says. "These conversations drive research that is truly applicable to the people - the patients - who are using the information to optimize how we manage concussions."
