An Okotoks woman is back where she wants to be with the help of a Foothills area concussion specialist.
“One thing I did not associate with concussions is the personality of it,” 23-year-old Jordyn Snyder said. “I noticed I was becoming much more irritable, angry quicker – I just wasn’t the same person. As soon as I started getting the treatments, I started feeling like Jordyn again.”
Jordyn is the daughter of former world bull riding champion Cody Snyder. Cody was the keynote speaker at the sold-out Foothills Concussion and Rehabilitation Centre Boots, Bowties and Bling gala on March 7 in Okotoks.
Jordyn received the centre's myosymmetries treatment.
Cody suffered head injuries during his bull riding career, but the severity of Jordyn’s trauma came somewhat as a surprise. Both of her head injuries occurred while playing high-level female hockey.
“I think the perception of women’s hockey is that there is no hitting, there is no contact,” Jordyn said. “But you get hit in the corner, hit your head and you end up getting a concussion.”
Jordyn had her first concussion at 14 when she fell while skating full bore and caught an edge during practice. She took a week off and then was back at it. She suffered her second concussion at 18 when she was accidentally shoved into the corner.
“I took another week off, because of headaches and kept moving forward, but didn’t have any symptoms again,” Jordyn said.
At least none that she was aware of.
Her grades slipped a bit in Grade 12 and then her first years of university proved difficult. Her marks slipped to a still more than respective 3.2 grade point average.
“I would have to read a paragraph five times before being able to figure it out,” Jordyn said. “I felt like I could only use half my brain.”
The Snyder family felt there might have been a connection with Jordyn’s concussions.
She went for myosymmetries treatment in February of 2019 and was told by its founder Dr. Stuart Donaldson it was one of the worst scans he had ever seen.
Jordyn is on track to graduate this spring with honours marks of 3.8 from the University of Calgary Haskayne School of Business. She has a job lined up with a major banking firm after graduation.
Cody Snyder, the 1986 Canadian bull rider champion, has seen first hand the trauma of concussions during his career as an athlete and now a promoter.
He told the more than 350 people in attendance that back in his day, a head injury was something a rider shook off, took a few days off and then got back on a 2,000-pound bull.
That has changed in the past three decades, especially since the tragic death of Tyler Pozzobon in 2017.
“Ty had the world in the palm of his hand. He could ride bulls with the best in the world,” Cody said. “After a couple of years of brain injuries, it caused insurmountable damage. Unfortunately three years ago he took his own life.”
Cody said Pozzobon’s family donated his brain to science and it had severe CTE.
He said since that tragedy bull riders have created concussion protocols, but more importantly discuss the issue among themselves.
He said recently a bull rider who had the high score after a short go-round didn’t take his second ride and the opportunity for big money because he wasn’t feeling right.
“That is what has happened since Ty’s death,” Cody said.
Jordyn said it was the Pozzobon tragedy that led to the family examining whether her concussions were the reason for her issues.
Amy Zacharias, a graduate of Foothills Composite High School, told the audience receiving biofeedback treatment changed her life.
“As I child, I struggled with extensive day-dreaming, inattentiveness and a lack of observation skills,” she said. “My struggle in school made me feel both stupid and hopeless.
“I also found social interaction terrifying… I felt disconnected from my peers and my family.”
She said Donaldson explained to her that her symptoms were concussion like.
Since receiving her treatment she said she is “living now.”
Zacharias is a third-year student at the University of Lethbridge studying to be an addictions counsellor.
The Foothills Concussion and Rehabilitation Centre has an office at 105 Elizabeth St. in Okotoks. For more information go to www.myosymmetries.ca.
