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Ice hockey experts discuss ways to reduce concussions
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Experts in ice hockey met to develop actions to reduce the risk of concussions, according to a special communication published in Current Sports Medicine Reports.
“Our research has progressed rapidly toward an objective diagnosis of concussion,” Aynsley M. Smith, RN, PhD, told Healio.com/Orthopedics. “However, a necessity before treatment testing is preventing the head impacts that cause concussion. Athletes, coaches, parents, officials and others engaged in any contact, high-risk sports must think about rule and philosophy adjustments to improve safety in their sports and be held accountable.”
During the Ice Hockey Summit III, physicians, researchers, athletic trainers, sports scientists and engineers discussed sport-related concussion epidemiology, classified prevention strategies, defined objectives and diagnostic tests, identified treatment, and integrated science and clinical care into prioritized action plans and policy. The action plan was developed from 40 scientific presentations.
In the final summit session, the 155 attendees voted to prioritize the action items. The actions included a need to establish a national and international hockey database for sport-related concussion epidemiology, eliminate body checking in Bantam youth hockey games, expand a behavior-modification program to youth hockey levels, enforce game ejection penalties for fighting in Junior A and professional hockey leagues, establish objectives tests to diagnose concussion at point of care, and order baseline testing to improve concussion diagnosis for age groups. The attendees wrote that it is necessary to immediately implement the prioritized action item to decrease the risk, severity and consequences of concussions in ice hockey. – by Monica Jaramillo
Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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