[Ice hockey accidents]

The present study is based on 2680 ice hockey accidents encountered in Switzerland over a period of 5 years: 1880 injuries during matches are compared with 800 that took place in training. Age: the athletes injuried during training were younger that 20 in 40% of cases; 38% of injuries in matches occurred to players aged between 20 and 24. 25% of accidents were caused by blows from the stick, particularly as a result of "high sticking"; 5% by skates; 17% by the puck (hard rubber); 17% by collisions; the remainder by crashing against the barrier, falls on the ice, body checking, etc. The most frequent injuries (42%) involved head and face: 740 dental injuries about of the 1460 facial injuries and 160 cases of concussion. The injuries affected: the legs in 21% of cases; the feet in 11%; the arms in 11%; the hands in 7% and the trunk in 8%. The commonest types of injuries were crushings and bruisings; during matches, 13% of the 1880 lesions involved fractures, a quarter of which were the result of collisions. Preventive measures would require all players to wear a helmet to protect their head, face and mouth; protective barriers should be sufficiently high; the game and rules should be taught from school age on and fair play should be instilled.