We’ve written before about how the UPMC Lemieux Complex which opened Monday in Cranberry Township should herald, among other things, a hockey boom that will benefit businesses, individuals and other athletic organizations.

That’s an exciting prospect. Even more exciting is the potential it has to impact a lingering, international concern regarding the sport: concussions.

Researching traumatic brain injuries with hockey players in the NHL is already one of the complex’s stated goals, and something that’s sorely needed in a sport where rule changes banning hits to the head haven’t been enough to protect the players’ brains.

A 2013 study which surveyed three seasons of hockey in the NHL and OHL — a junior hockey league in Canada — from 2009 through 2012, found concussion rates remained unchanged despite the new restrictions.

The complex’s concussion work shouldn’t stop with professional athletes. Its physical therapy rooms and sports medicine services are open to athletes of all ages, so why not its concussion research?

The plan is to eventually include both professional and youth athletes in the research, said Dr. Vonda Wright, the Complex’s medical director. The attention is sorely needed.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 2.6 million children, from infants through 19-year-olds, are treated in emergency rooms for sports and recreation-related injuries each year.

Concussions, to which young athletes are more vulnerable than adults, are contributing to that total. Hockey, along with football, is one of the easiest ways for youth athletes to get one.

A study of 36 public high schools released last fall by the Minnesota Department of Health found that concussion rates were about the same for high school hockey and football players — six times the average for all high school sports.

Youth hockey officials here and in Canada have responded to the concerns by following the NHL’s lead and changing rules to try and protect players.

In 2011 USA hockey raised the age limit for body checking from Pee-Wee (ages 11-12) to Bantam (ages 13-14). That’s a good start but, as the NHL data shows, not likely to be enough.

Hockey’s popularity is surging in Western Pennsylvania. Player registeration has grown nearly 33 percent since the 2006-2007 season, to nearly 13,000, according to USA Hockey statistics. The complex should accelerate that trend even further.

The Lemieux Complex, with its world-class sports medicine facilities, is uniquely positioned to make a significant contribution and help protect these young athletes as they participate in a sport they love.