Spinal and Head Injuries in Ice Hockey - A Three Decade Perspective

2008 ◽  
pp. 150-150-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
CH Tator ◽  
JD Carson ◽  
VE Edmonds
Keyword(s):  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (7_suppl5) ◽  
pp. 2325967119S0040
Author(s):  
Jack J. Zhou ◽  
Patrick Morrissey ◽  
Neil V. Shah ◽  
Aakash M. Patel ◽  
James P. Doran ◽  
...  

Objectives: Female youth ice hockey players are an overlooked population. No national study has established incidence rates for injuries in female youth ice hockey. The objective of this study was to establish incidence rates by injury location, diagnosis, and mechanism of injury using USA Hockey sanctioned age divisions. Methods: The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) was queried for all ice hockey injuries (product code 1279) from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2016. Cases involving players over the age of 19 and males were excluded. Each injury’s narrative text field was reviewed to determine mechanism of injury. Data was analyzed using (IBM®, v24). Comparisons of incidence by age were made using student’s two sample t-test with 95% confidence interval. Trend analyses were performed using a linear regression. USA Hockey membership statistics were used to establish population at risk and calculate incidence rates. All incidence rates were reported per 10,000 person-years. Results: A total of 384 patients, representing an estimated 10,398 ice hockey-related injuries, presented to NEISS-participating United States emergency departments. During the study period, female youth ice hockey players increased significantly from 44,678 in 2007 to 57,792 in 2016 (p=3.9x10-5, R-squared=0.89, ß =0.94). The overall number of injuries, however, only slightly increased from 992 in 2007 to 1,042 in 2016 (p=ns). Thus, the incidence rate (IR) of injuries fell from 222.1 to 180.2 during the study period. The most commonly injured body parts were the head (n=3048, IR=554.5), trunk (n=1399, IR=256.4), knee (n=1127, IR=169), shoulder (n=704, IR=153.3) and ankle (n=591, IR=120.2). The most common diagnoses were strain/sprain (n=2002, IR=417.7), contusion (n=1877, IR= 348), internal organ injury (n=1863, IR=320), concussion (n=1112, IR=218) and fracture (n=1255, IR=202). The top mechanisms of injury were player-to-player contact (n= 3016, IR=535), falls (n=2249, IR=380.9), and contact with boards (n=942, IR=165.8). The incidence rate of injuries increased with age; The 0-8, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16 and 17-19 age divisions had IR’s of 24, 84, 226, 381, 360, and 750, respectively. The player-to-player mechanism of injury also increased with age. The largest IR gap between ages fell between the 11-12 and 13-14 age groups, similar to what has been observed in male ice hockey studies. Player-to-player contact is the leading mechanism of injury in all age groups except the 0-8 age group. Head injuries increased with age division: 0-8 (n=15, IR=1), 9-10 (n=153, IR=17.4), 11-12 (n=598, IR=67.2), 13-14 (n=885, IR=115.1), 15-16 (n=650, IR=121.6) and 17-19 (n=746, IR=232.2). The two most common diagnoses of head injuries were concussion (36%) and internal organ injury (61%), both of these diagnoses increasing with age. In fact, concussion diagnosis increased significantly between each age group (p<0.01). Conclusion: We established the first collection of injury incidence rates for female ice hockey gleaned from a national database. Though body checking is illegal at all levels of women’s ice hockey, player-to-player contact prevailed as the leading mechanism of injury in all but the 0-8 age division. It was also the leading mechanism for the most common injury sites, including the head. This study laid bare an unspoken but long understood fact of the girl’s game that body checking is common and major contributor to the game’s injury burden.


2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Biasca ◽  
Stephan Wirth ◽  
Yelverton Tegner

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blaine Hoshizaki ◽  
Michael Vassilyadi ◽  
Andrew Post ◽  
Anna Oeur

Object The purpose of this study was to evaluate how currently used helmets would perform for winter play activities, such as tobogganing. In Canada and northern parts of the US, the advent of winter is followed by an increase in visits to hospital emergency departments by young children presenting with head injuries resulting from winter activities. Sliding, skating, skiing, and snowboarding all involve risks of head injury from situations such as falling on ice or sliding into stationary objects. This study compared the protective characteristics of helmets used by young children (< 7 years of age) participating in winter recreational activities. Methods Ice hockey, alpine ski, and bicycling helmets were impacted at 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, and 8.0 m/second at the front and side impact location by using a monorail drop rig. Results The results for the front impact showed that the ice hockey helmet protected the child significantly better at 2 and 4 m/second when considering both linear and angular peak acceleration. The bicycle helmet performed significantly better than the other 2 helmets at 8 m/second for the front location and only angularly for the side impacts. Conclusions Depending on the impact velocity of the hazard, the type of helmet significantly affected the risk of brain injury.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 86-100
Author(s):  
Łukasz Bryliński ◽  
Paulina Drożak ◽  
Martyna Drożak ◽  
Katarzyna Augustowska ◽  
Piotr Duda ◽  
...  

Introduction and purpose. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a tauopathy caused by repetitive, mild head injuries. It is characterized by perivascular accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau protein in the neurons and astrocytes. CTE leads to changes in central nervous system, both on microscopic and macroscopic level. The aim of the study was to present the current knowledge on chronic traumatic encephalopathy among athletes, its predisposing factors, symptoms and consequences, as well as diagnostic methods and treatment.Description. CTE occurs among contact sport players, such as American football, ice hockey, soccer, baseball, box and MMA (mixed martial arts), as well as among soldiers and victims of domestic violence. Repetitive head injuries and long career duration increase the risk of CTE. Symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy include a commonly occurring triad: cognitive disturbances, behavioral problems and mood disturbances. Other symptoms include memory loss, parkinsonism, headaches, speech and walking problems. Currently, the only diagnostic method of CTE is a posthumous detection of neuropathological markers. Methods such as detection of exosomal tau protein in plasma and imaging techniques give hope to diagnose CTE in alive patients. Treatment methods of CTE, such as LIPUS (low intensity pulsed ultrasound) therapy are currently being developed.Conclusions. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy among athletes is a serious problem that affects multiple people due to the popularity of contact sports. Thus, an emphasis should be put on prevention, raising awareness and appropriate protection of athletes through changes in regulations and improvement of protective equipment.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey Standen

This chapter examines how civil liability assessments and criminal convictions have affected the legality of blood sports. Blood sports can be divided into three categories: human versus human contests, human versus animal sports, and animal versus animal fighting. For over a century, blood sports have been under both social and legal attack, resulting in significant changes in most of the historic forms of combat worldwide. The chapter begins with an overview of the most popular violent sports today, including contact sports such as American football and ice hockey. It then considers criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits that arise from contact sports, including the “concussion suits” filed on behalf of athletes who suffered head injuries. It also discusses the doctrine of assumption of risk in sports and concludes with an analysis of how legislative intervention can obviate private tort liability for latent, chronic injuries to the brain of players.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 205970022091128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A Robidoux ◽  
Marshall Kendall ◽  
Yannick Laflamme ◽  
Andrew Post ◽  
Clara Karton ◽  
...  

Head injuries in elite and youth sport have garnered growing public attention in part because of high-profile cases of professional athletes suffering career-ending/threatening concussions and because of the increase in medical studies identifying how repeated concussive events can lead to long-term health problems, most notably degenerative brain disease. Public concerns around youth ice hockey are intensifying in light of recent evidence which suggests that effects of head injury are worse for youth than they are for athletes in later stages of life. To better understand concussion injury rate trends across all levels of youth hockey, this paper provides a retrospective analysis of concussion related hockey injury as recorded in Hockey Canada’s Injury Reporting System from the period covering 2009 to 2016, combined with two years of observational research documenting head contact events in minor hockey in the Ottawa and Gatineau regions of Ontario and Quebec. By comparing two different data sets through different methodological designs, it provides important insight into the levels of head contact in youth hockey, how head contact is occurring, and offers commentary about the levels of risk players are exposed to in minor hockey in Canada.


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