Hockey-related emergency department visits after a change in minor hockey age groups

To examine ice hockey injury rates presenting to emergency departments (EDs) in 2 separate cohorts of players before and after a policy change for age groups in minor hockey.

: Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Retrospective review of ice hockey injuries presenting to 2 tertiary care and 5 community care EDs in Edmonton, Alberta.

Two cohorts of minor ice hockey players were constructed. The pre-age change cohort consisted of 4215 registered male hockey players. The post-age change cohort consisted of 3811 registered male hockey players.

The risk of fracture, head and neck injury (intracranial and nonintracranial), and all other injuries presenting to EDs were compared between the pre-age change and post-age change cohorts.

Presentation to an ED with an injury occurring in ice hockey between September 1 and April 31 for the years 1997 through 2010.

Overall, significantly lower injury rates were observed in the post-age change cohort for players in the Peewee division; however, no significant differences were observed for the rate of fractures, and intracranial or nonintracranial head and neck injuries. There were no statistically significant differences observed between the pre-age change and post-age change cohorts in the Atom or Bantam divisions.

Introducing body checking 1 year earlier than in a previous cohort (11 vs 12 years of age) neither significantly decreased nor increased the rate of serious ice hockey injuries occurring 2 years after the introduction of body checking. Further research is recommended to evaluate the claim that introducing body checking lowers injury rates in older divisions of hockey.