Facial injuries in hockey players

As otolaryngologists become more involved with maxillofacial trauma, we are encountering an increasing number of athletic injuries. Ice hockey accounts for a large number of these facial injuries. The fast moving and random nature of the game, frequent body and equipment contact and lack of protective devices, predisposes the hockey player to facial injury. Because of the roughly tenfold increase in hockey participation over the last decade, the problem of facial injury prevention has become a significant public health problem in North America. Review of the medical literature shows a paucity of interest in the subject of facial injury prevention in hockey. Several articles have dealt with ocular injury, while other articles have dealt with the general subject of hockey injury with only scant attention paid to the facial area. A retrospective study was carried out to more clearly define the scope of the facial injury problem. Four levels of hockey play were examined. Individuals from the youngest and most inexperienced to seasoned professionals were studied. An individually completed questionnaire was received from players in each group. It is the purpose of this paper to indicate the rates of injury for the various types of facial trauma, present their mechanisms of occurrence and discuss means of preventing facial injury in hockey players.