This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Allowing body checking in youth hockey may increase risk of injury, including severe concussions
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
A comparison of hockey leagues in Canada for 11- to 12-year-old players finds that compared with leagues that do not allow body checking, those that do have an associated 3-fold increased risk of game-related injuries, including severe injuries and severe concussions, according to a study in the June 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
"Ice hockey is a popular North American winter sport, with more than 550,000 registered youth players in Hockey Canada and more than 340,000 registered players in the USA Hockey Association in 2008-2009. Despite the advantages of sport participation, there is increasing concern regarding the frequency of ice hockey injuries in youth," the authors wrote in the study. They added that recent attention has been focused on the increased frequency of concussive head injuries in youth hockey. It is the most common type of specific injury, accounting for more than 15% of all injuries in 9- to 16-year-old players, according to background information in the article.
Different regulations
Internationally, there are different regulations regarding the age at which body checking is introduced in ice hockey. In the United States, body checking is introduced in all leagues for the 11 to 12 years age group, but leagues not permitting body checking exist through all ages, up to the leagues for 15 to 16 year-olds, according to a press release from the American Medical Association (AMA). In Canada, the youngest age group in which body checking is permitted is Pee Wee (ages 11-12 years). In the province of Quebec, however, Bantam (ages 13-14 years) is the youngest age group in which body checking is permitted.
Carolyn A. Emery, PhD, BScPT, of the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and colleagues examined whether the risk of concussion and injury differed for youth ice hockey players in a league that permits body checking vs. a league that does not. The study was conducted in Alberta and Quebec during the 2007-2008 Pee Wee ice hockey season and included 2,154 players from teams in the top 60% of divisions of play. Among the outcomes measured were the rates for game- and practice-related injuries and concussions.
They assessed 74 Pee Wee teams from Alberta and 76 Pee Wee teams from Quebec. Overall they found a total of 241 injuries (78 concussions) reported in Alberta and 91 injuries (23 concussions) reported in Quebec.
Risk reduction
"The estimated absolute risk reduction (injuries per 1,000 player-hours) that would be achieved if body checking were not permitted in Alberta was 2.84 for all game-related injuries, 0.72 for severe injuries, 1.08 for concussion, and 0.20 for severe concussion. There was no difference between provinces for practice-related injuries," the authors wrote.
"Among 11- to 12-year-old ice hockey players, playing in a league in which body checking is permitted compared with a league in which body checking is not permitted was associated with a threefold increased risk of all game-related injuries, concussion, severe injury, and severe concussion. These findings may have important implications for policy decisions related to body checking in youth ice hockey. The public health implications associated with injury in Pee Wee hockey in which body checking is permitted are significant."
"Future research should compare the injury and concussion risk in the next age group of play (Bantam, ages 13-14 years), in which players in one cohort will have 2 years of body checking experience prior to Bantam participation. This research can inform the development and rigorous evaluation of prevention strategies to reduce the risk of injury in this population of youth ice hockey participants," the authors concluded.
- Reference:
Emery CA. Kang J, Shrier I, et al. Risk of Injury Associated With Body Checking Among Youth Ice Hockey Players. JAMA. 2010;303[22):2265-2272.
