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 The Hall of Fame defenseman, who retired in 2011 after playing in
four Olympics, said medical research into chronic traumatic
encephalopathy (CTE) would benefit from greater female
participation.
"They don't have enough women's brains and for any good medical
study, you should have both genders from a variety of sports," she
told Reuters in an interview. "So we need more hockey brains."
Ruggiero could recall only one concussion she had suffered during
her 15-year career but said head injuries were common in ice hockey
and had cut short the careers of many players.
Concussions had led her friend and former team mate Caitlin Cahow to
retire and nearly forced the retirement of Meghan Duggan, the
captain of the U.S. gold medal-winning team at this year's Winter
Olympics in Pyeonchang, she said.
"I'm so blessed that concussions didn't actually affect my career,"
she said.
"But who knows, maybe those hits as a kid caused damage up there.
"I'd love science to figure that out and I want to support further
research."
Ruggiero said it was possible concussions were more prevalent in
women's ice hockey than in men's because while the men were allowed
to bodycheck each other, women were not, which could leave them
unprepared for contact when it occurred.
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"If you're a guy, you're always waiting to get clobbered," she said.
"In women's, you're not expecting to get hit."
The good news was that the growing awareness of concussions in
sports, especially in the NFL, had led to the emergence of new
technologies aimed at measuring and preventing them, she said.
"We see a whole market for this now," said Ruggiero, who is also the
CEO of the Sports Innovation Lab, which seeks to bridge the gap
between the worlds of sports and technology.
"From a market research perspective we see dollars being deployed
and new companies being founded trying to solve this, so that's
encouraging.
"I want to give some visibility to the discussion and encourage
other athletes to pledge their brains as well."
U.S. Olympic bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor and Canadian ice hockey
player Hayley Wickenheiser have also pledged to donate their brains
to concussion research through the Boston-based Concussion Legacy
Foundation.
(Editing by Clare Fallon)
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