Injuries in German Men´s Professional Ice Hockey Bloch, H. 1, Klein, C. 1 Luig, P. 1 1 VBG
(German Statutory Accident Insurance for the Administrative Sector), Department for Sports Injury Prevention
Introduction Due to more than 2,000 injuries per season within the two highest divisions of men’s professional ice hockey in Germany there is a need of preventive approaches. The first development step of purposeful preventive measures is the description of epidemiology within the target group. This isn't known for German men's professional ice hockey so far. Even for other European top leagues there is only poor data describing epidemiology considering all clubs and injury types.
• Head injuries (17.9%) were the most frequent injuries, whereof 30.8% were contusions und 19.1% were concussions. • Field players had significant (± 95% CI) more head and wrist injuries than goalies
Thus, aim of this study was to analyze the risk of injuries and to describe injury patterns within the two highest divisions in men’s professional ice hockey in Germany.
Head (17.9%) Hand (7.4%) Shoulder (10.7%)
Methodology Thigh (10.1%)
Knee (9.1%)
Design: Prospective observational cohort study of the season 2014/15. Setting: Two highest leagues in German men's professional ice hockey (i.e. DEL, DEL2)
Fig. 5: Rate (%) of top-five injured body regions
Subjects: All 1st and 2nd division ice hockey players who played at least one competitive club match during the 2014-15 season (n=812) were included.
Injury event:
Injuries: All injuries of the included subjects that were reported by clubs or physicians to the VBG as part of the occupational accident reporting and that either led to the player’s short-term disability (time-loss) or to medical treatment costs (medical-attention) (n=2,045).
• No significant differences were observed between competitions
Main Outcome Measurements: Prevalence rate and injury incidence, injured body regions, type of injury, medical-attention and time-loss.
• Only 30.9% of injuries occurred during training, but 69.1% during matches with a match incidence of 136.8 injuries per 1000h.
1st division
27.3%
72.7%
150 2nd division
34.8%
65.2%
100 50
Total
30.9%
69.1%
0
146.4
127.4
129.6
1st division
2nd division
136.8
Champions Total League Fig. 7: Match injury incidence (± 95% CI) per player and season according to competition
Fig. 6: Distribution (%) of training and match injuries according to division
Results
200
• Nearly one third (30.7%) of all training injuries occurred during pre-season month August.
Prevalence rate and injury incidence: • 623 of the 812 players (76.7%) were injured at least once.
0.5%
• A total of 2,045 injuries were recorded which led to a cumulative incidence rate of 2.5 injuries per player and season. • No significant differences in prevalence rate between 1st and 2nd division.
11.9%
• Regarding a confidence level of 95% (± 95% CI) 2nd division had significant lower injury incidents than 1st division.
16.2%
13.0%
15.1% 14.3%
2.1%
30.7%
11.9%
9.7%
10.6%
Match Training
7.4%
13.4% 9.7%
7.3%
11.3% 6.2%
4.3% 2.8%
0.8%
0.9%
3
100% 80%
2
60%
Fig. 8: Distribution (%) of training and match injuries according to month of injury event
40%
1
Burden of Injuries:
20% 0%
79.8%
73.9%
76.7%
1st division 1st division
2nd division 2nd division
Total
Fig. 1: Rate of injured players (prevalence rate, ± 95% CI) according to division
0
2.7
2.3
2.5
1st division 1st division
2nd division 2nd division
Total Total
Fig. 2: Injury incidence (± 95% CI) per player and season according to division
• Shoulder injuries (10.7%) caused 20.5% of overall medical-attention and 22.0% of overall time-loss. Head
9.9%
Injury occurrence and playing positions:
13.8%
• Goalies had significant (± 95% CI) lower injury prevalence and incidence than overall average.
20.5%
• Goalies had significant (± 95% CI) more knee and thigh injuries than field players, which could be referred to their position specific movement patterns (e.g. butterfly technique, crouching)
Players (n, %)
22.0% Thigh
9.8% 7.6%
Knee
18.8% 20.3%
Ankle
Tab. 1: Players, injured players and injuries (n, %) according to playing position Playing Position
Shoulder
7.8% 8.6%
Injured Players (n, %)
Injuries (n, %)
0%
5%
10% Medical-attention
Goalies
88 (10.8%)
51 (8.2%)
15%
20%
25%
Time-loss
135 (6.6%) Fig. 9: Distribution (%) of time-loss and medical-attention according to injured body region
Defencemen
250 (30,8%)
204 (32.7%)
697 (34.1%)
Centres
133 (16.4%)
109 (17.5%)
342 (16.7%)
Conclusion
Wings
341 (42.0%)
259 (41.6%)
871 (42.6%)
Total
812 (100.0%)
623 (100.0%)
2,045 (100.0%)
Injury Risk in German professional ice hockey is high, especially during match play. Shoulder, knee and head injuries lead to the biggest amount of medicalattention and time-loss. Injury risk and injury patterns significantly differ between goalies and field players. Thus, preventive measures needs to be individualized and must consider position-specific risk factors. Because of the high share of injuries during pre-season, special focus should be laid on player preparedness after off-season break and load monitoring during preseason. For development of expedient preventive measures, injury mechanisms need to be analyzed.
100%
3
80% 2
60% 40%
1 20% 0%
58.0%
81.6%
82.0%
76.0%
76.7%
0
1.5
2.8
2.6
2.6
2.5
References and further information Fig. 3: Rate of injured players (prevalence rate, ± 95% CI) according to playing position
Fig. 4: Injury incidence (± 95% CI) per player and season according to playing position
IOC WORLD CONFERENCE ON PREVENTION OF INJURY AND ILLNESS IN SPORT
For detailed information on all parts of the study and the list of references please contact the author. Email:
[email protected]
MONACO, 16-18 MARCH 2017 GRIMALDI FORUM
