A study recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that accidents are more commonly to blame for on-ice amateur-hockey injuries than bodychecking. The findings were based on a five-year study of 3,000 boys aged four to 18 in a youth hockey program in Burlington, Ontario. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Buffalo, found that 66 per cent of overall injuries were the result of accidents that happen during a game, such as colliding with teammates, sliding into the boards or posts or getting hit with the puck. The remaining 34 per cent were attributed to players checking each other. The researchers only took into account injuries serious enough to cause players to be off the ice for at least 24 hours. This begs the question…how many of the injuries not taken into account may have been concussions and not diagnosed? For the record, the findings of this study conflict with those of another study mentioned below. Regardless of whether most injuries are intentional or not, the sad and harsh reality is that minor hockey is plagued with a serious injury factor and bodychecking is responsible for a disproportionately large number of those injuries, including concussions.
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By Susan Perry | Published Wed, Jun 9 2010 9:56 am MinnPost.com

Permitting body checking in youth hockey increases the risk of game-related injuries, including concussions, threefold, according to a Canadian study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

That finding will undoubtedly raise concern among the parents of the 35,000 or so Minnesota kids who play hockey. Here, as in most places in the U.S., body checking is permitted in youth hockey (played by boys and girls) — but not in girls’ hockey — starting at the Pee Wee level (ages 11 and 12).

For this new study, Pee Wee players — 2,154 in all — were followed for a single season (October 2007 to March 2008). Roughly half (1,108) played for a league in the Canadian province of Alberta, which permits body checking at that age level. The other half (1,046) played for a league in Quebec, whose Pee Wee players are not allowed to body check.
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A landmark study released on June 8 revealed that 11- and 12- year old hockey players in leagues that allow bodychecking are 2.5 times more likely to get hurt and 3.5 times more likely to suffer a mild traumatic brain injury -mTBI also known as a concussion. In Quebec, players do not bodycheck until bantam ages (ages 13 to 14), and even then it is only introduced at the elite levels of the game. Pee wee (ages 11 and 12) is when bodychecking begins in Alberta. The joint University of Calgary, McGill University, and the University of Laval study tracked 2,200 pee wee hockey players from both provinces for the entire 2007-2008 season to measure injury frequency. The findings of this study were published in the recent edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

This study should serve as a wake-up call for those Canadians concerned with the health and safety of all players, especially minor leaguers, and the future of the game as we know it. The release of these findings coincide with statements made by Toronto neurosurgeon, Charles Tator at a Hockey Canada sponsored concussion seminar who said there has been too much emphasis on ‘rock’em, sock’em type of hockey in minor hockey. Dr. Tator has been a long-time advocate of findings better ways to make hockey a safer game.
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The never ending incidents of on ice-thuggery, including hits to the head, a recent one involving QMJHL star Patrice Cormier, along with other factors including body checking in minor hockey, has turned hockey into our most dangerous game. These horrible incidents smack of everything that is wrong with hockey in our country: poor leadership; elitist and exclusionary, lofty and unrealistic expectations; overzealous coaches and parents and no fun and recreational benefits for the players.

The long-term brain damage suffered by Reggie Fleming during his professional playing career, as revealed by researchers at Boston University, should serve as a wake-up call for those Canadians concerned with the health and safety of all players, especially minor leaguers, and the future of the game as we know it. The release of these findings coincided with statements made by Toronto neurosurgeon Charles Tator at the recent Hockey Canada sponsored concussion seminar who said there has been too much emphasis on “sock’em, kill’em type of hockey” in minor hockey. Dr. Tator has been a long-time advocate of findings better ways to make hockey a safer game.
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From: Emile Therien – To: editorial@reddeeradvocate.com
Dear Editor,
With much interest, I read this article: Meeting injuries head-on.

The never ending incidents of on ice-thuggery, including hits to the head, a recent one involving QMJHL star Patrice Cormier, along with other factors including body checking in minor hockey, has turned hockey into our most dangerous game. These horrible incidents smack of everything that is wrong with hockey in our country: poor leadership; elitist and exclusionary, lofty and unrealistic expectations; overzealous coaches and parents and no fun and recreational benefits for the players.
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Friday, 09.18.2009 / 5:03 PM / News
NHL.com
DALLAS, DENVER — Concussions are by far the most common, and one of the most difficult to manage injuries seen in sports today. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are between 1.6 million and 3.8 million brain injuries that occur in sports each year — and 63,000 occur in high school athletes alone. The National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) and National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) have joined forces on a national and local grassroots campaign to educate the public, athletes, health professionals, coaches, parents, administrators and others about concussion in sports. The overarching objective of the campaign is to raise awareness of the importance of identifying concussions and implementing appropriate management when they do occur.
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The Canadian Press

LONDON, Ont. — Fighting should be eliminated from hockey at all levels of the game, according to recommendations released Tuesday from an expert panel dealing with concussions in hockey.

“Fighting is one of the known causes of concussion, and may result in the related long-term complications,” the panel’s summary statement says. “Fighting can cause needless death.”

The recommendations, resulting from meetings at the London Hockey Concussion Summit on Jan. 17-18, also calls from an elimination of high hits/head hits.

“Those are significant ones,” Summit chair Dr. Paul Echlin said. “The reduction of hits from behind has had a major effect on the incidence of broken necks in hockey and similarly, the reduction of high/head hits should reduce the incidence of concussions.”

Panellists on The Concussion Summit included four former players, three of whom were knocked out of the National Hockey League as the result of concussions – Eric Lindros, Jeff Beukeboom and Alyn McCauley – along with Canadian national women’s team player Jennifer Botterill, who was sidelined for a protracted period with concussion.

Echlin stresses, however, that there was no consensus on all the recommendations.

“The recommendations in this statement are designed to serve as a framework for future discussion, and to promote significant change concerning the prevention, recognition, and management of concussions in hockey,” the statement says.

Echlin and co-chair Dr. Charles Tator, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Toronto, put their recommendations together via e-mail with the participants after poring over the minutes of the day-after meeting.

The recommendations will go to the media, various hockey groups and medical associations.

Along with the rules recommendations, the panel advised a concussion certification program in which trainers, coaches and officials would gain knowledge aimed at recognizing and treating concussion.

Those teams that have pre-season physicals with medical professionals, Echlin said, have added benefits. Few young players ever see a doctor and physicals sometimes indicate problems other than neurological, such as cardiac-related.

Other recommendations in today’s release are the adoption of an NHL/Ontario Hockey League role model program, studies leading to a data collection system, pre-season screening and a survey of protective equipment.

Echlin and Tator said were gratified by the turnout of 380 hockey people Jan. 17 and felt a step closer to their goal – a unified body that involves all levels of hockey and could expand into other sports.

Football Canada was a non-hockey participant in the recommendations along with the NHL, NHL Players’ Association, the OHL, Ontario Hockey Association, Ontario Hockey Federation along with a number of medical and therapeutic bodies.

Echlin said the prospective name for a central agency dealing with concussion is Hockey Concussion Initiative, which would first involve hockey and ultimately serve as a model for all sports in which head injuries occur such as football, soccer, rugby, skiing, skateboarding and cycling.

“Sometimes, events like the Concussion Summit are held and everyone departs until another one is held,” Echlin said in an interview. “Our goal is to move forward from this and work to find solutions to a growing problem”.

Echlin has hands-on experience with concussion this season.

Six of 23 players on the junior development team he works with have suffered concussion, one requiring disqualification for the remainder of the season.

GATINEAU, Québec—The Brain Injury Association of Canada (BIAC) calls on Canadians to contact their Member of Parliament and declare their support for Private Members Bill C-289, which would amend the Hazardous Products Act so as to prohibit the advertising, sale, or import into Canada, of recreational snow sport helmets that do not meet a national standard. The amendment is being re-introduced, today, by the Honourable Dr. Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre), in an attempt to have it passed by Cabinet through an Order-in-Council.

“It would be significant if this is done in time for Canada’s 2010 Olympics,” explains Dr. Fry. The Canadian Medical Association, BIAC, and various organizations which promote preventable injuries, are all in support of this proposed amendment to the law.
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HAYLEY MICK
From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail
January 28, 2009 at 9:41 AM EST

Athletes who suffered concussions in their youth show a far more rapid mental decline as they grow older, according to a new Canadian study that suggests sports-related head injuries may plant the seed for Alzheimer’s disease.

The study, which looked at university-level hockey and football players now in their early 60s, found that the group who had no history of concussion scored much higher in tests of memory, motor skills and reaction time compared with former athletes who had suffered one or more concussions at least 30 years ago.
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Hunting the headhunters – Red Baron reflects on then and now