Researchers hit back at early bodycheck theory
A new study from the University of Alberta is challenging the notion that teaching the next generation of Sidney Crosbys how to take a bodycheck at an earlier age will help them avoid injury over the long term.
Researchers with the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research in the School of Public Health studied hockey-related injuries using data from several emergency departments in the Edmonton region. They found little truth to the theory that introducing bodychecking at an earlier age helps prevent injuries because players gain an "instinctive ability" to protect themselvesa popular convention in minor-hockey circles.
"The effects of injuries in hockey can be long-lasting. Whether they're severe fractures or intracranial injuries, there are long-term consequencesyou can heal a broken arm but you can't necessarily heal a brain injury," said study co-author Andrew Harris.
"Our results showed that introducing bodychecking earlier does not reduce these risks. We did not find significantly different injury rates for serious injuries such as fractures or head and neck injuries, or any intracranial injury."
Harris worked with Donald Voaklander, director of the Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research, to evaluate emergency records for two groups of youth aged nine to 15 years playing atom, peewee and bantam hockey8,000 in total.
The first group played from 1997 to 2002, when children as young as 12 and 13 in the peewee division were taught to bodycheck. Researchers then compared injury rates with those among players from 2003 to 2010, after a rule change that saw players as young as 11 and 12 learn to bodycheck.
The research team found no significant differences in the number of fractures, head injuries and neck injuries among peewee and bantam players across both groups.
No significant differences were observed in the atom division, where no hitting was allowed across all playing seasons.
Voaklander said this study, along with existing research elsewhere in Canada, clearly shows practice does not make perfect when it comes to doling out and receiving bodychecks and avoiding injury.
"It really does not have much merit," he said. "Exposing 11- and 12-year-olds to bodychecking is not helping matters at the upper level, so there is no point in continuing it."
Voaklander said the only proven way to reduce the risk for Canada's hockey-playing youth is to avoid contact. That's always been a controversial issue in hockey circles, and a stumbling block for the public health community, he added, but the evidence is getting harder to ignore.
"The body of knowledge is building. Sooner or later there is going to be a tipping point. The people making the rules are going to have to make the right choice."
The study was published in June by the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine in an early online release.
Provided by
University of Alberta
-
Brain injuries rise sharply in minor hockey after bodychecking rules relaxed: study
Mar 15, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
No injury spike in Bantam bodychecking
Jun 20, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Ban bodychecking in youth hockey to prevent concussions
Apr 18, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Bodychecking triples injury risk in Pee Wee hockey
Jun 08, 2010 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Most youth hockey injuries caused by accidents, not checking, study shows
Jul 29, 2010 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Study focuses on new mums' sleepiness and injury risk on the road
New mothers throughout Australia are needed to help QUT sleep researchers investigate whether the disrupted sleep experienced by mothers when caring for their new baby raises the risk of injury while driving.
Health
1 hour ago |
not rated yet |
0
Portland, Ore., rejecting water fluoridation
(AP)—The mayor of Portland, Ore., has conceded defeat in an effort to add fluoride to the city's drinking water.
Health
1 hour ago |
not rated yet |
0
Life expectancy gap widens between those with mental illness and general population
The gap between life expectancy in patients with a mental illness and the general population has widened since 1985 and efforts to reduce this gap should focus on improving physical health, suggest researchers in a paper ...
Health
14 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Failure to use linked health records may lead to biased disease estimates
Failure to use linked electronic health records may lead to biased estimates of heart attack incidence and outcome, warn researchers in a paper published in BMJ today.
Health
14 hours ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Dietary advice on added sugar is damaging our health, warns heart expert
Dietary advice on added sugar is damaging our health, warns a cardiologist in BMJ today. Dr. Aseem Malhotra believes that "not only has this advice been manipulated by the food industry for profit but it is actually a risk ...
Health
14 hours ago |
5 / 5 (4) |
0
A molecular explanation for age-related fertility decline in women
(Medical Xpress)—Scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health have a new theory as to why a woman's fertility declines after her mid-30s. They also suggest an approach that might help slow ...
Medical researchers discover new ways to target, develop and design drugs to prevent and treat viral infection
Researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered a new drug target, developed a new drug and identified a new way to design drugs—all of which could be a winning combination in the battle against viruses.
Beta-blockers may boost chemo effect in childhood cancer
Beta-blockers, normally used for high blood pressure, could enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapies in treating neuroblastoma, a type of children's cancer, according to a new study published in the British Jo ...
Cancer survivors need more support to stop smoking and drinking
Cancer survivors are no more likely to stop smoking, cut down on alcohol, or exercise more often than the general population, according to new research published in the British Journal of Cancer today (Wednesday)
Ethicists' behavior not more moral, study finds
(Medical Xpress)—Do ethicists engage in better moral behavior than other professors? The answer is no. Nor are they more likely than nonethicists to act according to values they espouse, according to researchers from the ...
Succesful results in developing oral vaccine against diarrhea
The University of Gothenburg Vaccine Research Institute (GUVAX) announces successful results in a placebo controlled phase I study of an oral, inactivated Escherichia coli diarrhea vaccine.