Abstract
Ice hockey is a fast-paced competitive sport involving 12 players skating at high speed on ice, usually in a rink surrounded by hard but flexible boards. The sport includes hard body contacts, and body checking is permitted in the men’s game as a defensive technique. Ice hockey is not only an attractive collision sports but also a very aggressive one. Consequently, there is a high risk of injuries.
Injury rates in collegiate and professional men’s leagues have reportedly ranged from 2 to 79 injuries/1000 player hours. In addition, ice hockey had the highest incidence of athlete-to-athlete trauma. During games, the most frequent injuries concern the knee (13.5%), the acromioclavicular (AC) joint (8.9), upper leg contusions of (6.2%) as well as pelvis and hip muscle strains (4.5%) (Laprade et al., Br J Sports Med. 48:4–10, 2014).
In terms of prevention, full facial shields and helmets with partial visors have contributed to decrease injuries of the face and eyes. Flexible boards and respect of the game rules are also part of effective prevention measures.
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References
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Goto, K., Menetrey, J. (2022). Ice Hockey. In: Canata, G.L., Jones, H. (eds) Epidemiology of Injuries in Sports . Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-64532-1_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-64532-1_13
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