NHL Call for Safer Hockey

News and articles related to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Concussions, and Head Injuries
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NHL Call for Safer Hockey

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Oct 13, 2013: NY Times The Science Behind a Call For Safer Hockey
The article includes:
  • Last week researchers at the Mayo Clinic presented new findings suggesting more strongly than ever that repeated hits to the heads of hockey players can cause serious harm.
    • The study looked at following sources for head injury:
      • head-on checks to the head;
      • falls to the ice; and
      • left or right hooks to the jaw as thrown in a hockey fight
    • They found that the left or right hooks were by far the most likely to cause concussions due to the sharp rotational forces the 'hooks' deliver to the brain
  • The N.H.L. barred all targeted contact with the head and adopted a stricter, “quiet room” protocol for in-game evaluation of players believed to have sustained concussions.
  • USA Hockey and Hockey Canada increased the minimum age for body checking to 13 in response to a University of Calgary study showing alarming injury rates for 11- and 12-year-old players in Alberta, where body checking was allowed.
“We don’t want for hockey what we’re seeing in football: parents not putting their kids in the sport because of fear of concussions,” said Dr. Charles Burke, a former team doctor for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the developer and former director of the N.H.L.’s concussion committee.

See the full article: