UAlberta medical researcher Dhiren Naidu is also the team physician with the Edmonton Eskimos, the head physician for the Edmonton Oilers and a specialist in concussions.
Study tests how much CFL players and their university-level counterparts know about concussions-and how to deal with them. Research from the University of Alberta shows Canadian Football League players are more likely than university-level players to value medical tests after concussions. But the professional athletes are more apt to incorrectly believe it's OK to return to the sport within 24 to 48 hours if they have no symptoms. The study looked at how CFL athletes fared against their university-level peers when it came to concussion knowledge, and whether a one-hour concussion education program improved the two groups' knowledge. All of the CFL players realized the importance of seeking medical tests after a concussion, versus 67 per cent of university-level football players. On a different issue, 44 per cent of pro football players incorrectly thought it was safe to return to the sport one to two days post-concussion if they had no symptoms, whereas 26 per cent of their university peers believed this practice was safe. "You can still be healing from a cognitive perspective even though you feel normal," says Dhiren Naidu , lead researcher from the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry , who worked with colleagues from the Faculty of Education on the projects.
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