Ash Kolstad

Ash Kolstad completed a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree (in Kinesiology) in 2019 at the University of Calgary. In his youth years, Ash sustained multiple concussions from body checking in youth ice hockey. These concussions resulted in his inability to continue playing ice hockey and left him suffering from post concussion syndrome on a daily basis for the past 10 years. It was through suffering these concussions that Ash found a passion for learning more about the different aspects of concussion and injury prevention  research. Ash started in the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre in his grade 11 high school year under the supervision of Dr. Carolyn Emery. He had opportunities to lead video analysis projects measuring the offensive performance of ice hockey leagues allowing and disallowing body checking. This experience led Ash to branch out into other important areas of concussion research which includes being an intern at the Patient and Community Engagement Research (PaCER) program to understand the experiences adolescents have while recovering from concussion. Moreover, he has used the KINARM robotic platform to document if having an acute concussion and a remote history of concussion influences the senosrimotor function of upper limb movements (supervised by: Dr. Tyler Cluff & Dr. Carolyn Emery). Other areas of concussion research include evaluating symptom and performance validity testing in youth suffering mild traumatic brain injury (supervised by Dr. Keith Yeates). Ash's undergraduate honours project assessed if a relationship existed between baseline psychosocial (e.g., anxiety) and physiological (e.g., headache) factors for predicting time to recovery in youth suffering concussion (supervised by Dr. Keith Yeates & Kathryn Schneider). Ash's Masters project will be part of the pan-Canadian SHRed concussion (NFL funded, PI: Dr. Carolyn Emery) study to measure if proper helmet fit and mouthguard use is protective against concussion in high school sports (supervised by: Dr. Carolyn Emery & Dr. Brent Hagel). Ash looks forward to completing his MSc degree and plans to pursue a PhD to evaluate  preventative measures and sensorimotor characteristics of concussion.

Papers

1. Madden, R. F., Erdman, K. A., Shearer, J., Spriet, L. L., Ferber, R., Kolstad, A. T., ... & Benson, L. C. (2019). Effects of Caffeine on Exertion, Skill Performance and Physicality in Ice Hockey. International journal of sports physiology and performance, 1(aop), 1-26.
2. Emery, C. A., Black, A. M., Kolstad, A., Martinez, G., Nettel-Aguirre, A., Engebretsen, L., ... & Aubry, M. (2017). What strategies can be used to effectively reduce the risk of concussion in sport? A systematic review. British journal of sports medicine, 51(12), 978-984.

Search Strategies

1. Emery CA, Kissick J, Nagahiro S, Tator C, Aubry M, Engebretsen L, Johnston K, Maddocks D, Dvorák J, Schneider K, Black AM, Martinez G, Kolstad A. (2016). What strategies can be used to effectively reduce the risk of concussion in sport? A systematic review. PROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews (National Institute for Health Research). 

Abstracts

1. Kolstad A, Nadeau L, Eliason P, Palacios-Derflingher L, Goulet C, Emery CA. (2017). The effect of body checking policy change on offensive game skill performance in 13–14 year old ice hockey players. British Journal of Sports Medicine. International Olympic Committee’s World Conference on Prevention of Injury and Illness in Sport. (345).
2. Kolstad AT, Nadeau L, Eliason P, Palacios-Derflingher L, Goulet C, Emery CA. (2017). The effect of body checking policy change on offensive game skill performance in 13–14 year old ice hockey players. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine (CASEM). (e37)
3. Kolstad A, Nadeau L, Eliason P, Palacios-Derflingher L, Goulet C, Emery CA. (2016). The effect of body checking policy change on offensive game skill performance in 11–12-year-old ice hockey players. Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine (CASEM). (e96–e97)