Epidemiology of injuries in British male ice hockey: A multi-season prospective cohort study.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to investigate the incidence, nature and burden of injury in a cohort of male ice hockey players competing in the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) over two seasons.

METHODS

A prospective single-site cohort study was conducted on 50 players (age: 22.3 ± 3.7) competing over the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons. All injuries (medical attention and time loss) and illnesses were recorded. Match and training exposure were also recorded. Injury incidence was expressed as injuries per 1000 h of exposure while burden was the number of time loss days per 1000 h of exposure. Prevalence was reported as percentages for: body area, injury type, diagnosis, mechanism, mode of onset and injury episode. One-variable chi-squared tests were used to determine if observed values were as expected for each prevalence subcategory.

RESULTS

One hundred and eighty-two injuries were recorded, of which 26 injuries (26/182) led to time-loss. Seven illnesses were reported. The injury incidence rate for all injuries was 54.18 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.87-62.0)/1000 h, while the time-loss was 7.74 (95% CI: 2.97-10.71)/1000 h. More injuries were recorded during matches than in training (35.63 [95% CI: 13.81-48.34]/1000 h vs. 0.75 [95% CI: -1.04 to 1.79]/1000 h). Injuries to the head occurred most often (17.6%), although the shoulder was the most burdensome (16.3 severity score). Bone contusions were the most frequent diagnosis (19.8%), although the most days were lost per injury were following muscle contusion injuries (18.3 severity score). Most injuries occurred from (direct and indirect) contact (70.8%) mechanisms, were acute in nature (77.5%) and were classed as first occurrences (86.8%).

CONCLUSION

The overall incidence of injury was 54.18/1000 h, yet time-loss injury incidence was much lower at 7.74/1000 h. The most injured body area was the head, and the most injured tissue type was muscle and tendon. Bone contusions were the most common pathology recorded.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level II.