UPFRONT | Roundup Concussion legislation gets multiparty support A concussion bill named for a 17-year-old girl who died after being injured while playing high school rugby was introduced in the Ontario legislature with rare all-party support. Rowan Stringer had been accepted to the University of Ottawa’s nursing pro-gram, but never got to at-tend, as she died in 2013 from multiple concussions. She was a nurturing person who would have wanted her memory to be used to help other children, said her mother, Kathleen. “It’s almost impossible to describe losing a child,” she said. “I would never want another family to have to experience this again and I would be just devastated to find out that another child in Canada dies from second impact syndrome.” A 2014 study from Toron-to’s York University and the Institute for Clinical Evalu-ative Sciences found the number of children and youth treated for concus-sions in Ontario has risen significantly. Between 2003 and 2011, almost 89,000 pediatric concussions were treated in either an emer-gency department or a phy-sician’s office. The rate of concussions jumped to 754 from 466 per 100,000 for boys, and to 440 from 208 per 100,000 for girls. Rowan’s Law would estab-lish a committee to get the recommendations that came out of the coroner’s inquest into her death implemented within a year. Those recom-mendations include estab-lishing guidelines to ensure a child is removed from play if a concussion is suspected and that they not return to play until a medical clear-ance is issued. Lisa MacLeod, who repre-sents the Ottawa-area riding where the Stringers live, said Rowan’s Law would be Can-ada’s first concussion law. The bill was co-sponsored by Liberal John Fraser and New Democrat Catherine Fife. Rowan’s father, Gord Stringer, said his daughter was a person who brought people together, so this is the way she would want action to happen. “This isn’t a political is-sue, it’s a health and safety issue,” he said. “It’s for kids. It doesn’t need a political stripe on it.” A previous attempt at concussion legislation was left on the table in the fall of 2012, not long before Rowan died. – Allison Jones, The Canadian Press PUBLIC POLICY ChiropraCtiC teChnique: prinCiples & proCedures third edition A complete guide to chiropractic adjustive techniques for the spine, pelvis, and extremities. Chiropractic Technique, Third Edition makes essential procedures easy to understand and provides a rationale for their use. Written by Thomas F. Bergmann, DC, FICC, and David H. Peterson, DC, and backed by the latest research studies, this bestseller describes the basic principles needed to evaluate, select, and apply specific adjustive procedures. With a review of chiropractic history; detailed descriptions of joint examination and adjustive techniques for the spine, pelvis, and extremities; and a companion Evolve website with how-to videos, this book is a must-have reference for students and clinicians. 12 Canadian Chiropractor February 2016 CC_Feb16_bookstore_MLD.indd 1 www.canadianchiropractor.ca 2016-01-15 10:28 AM
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