Body-checking experience does not protect against concussions and injuries, says U of C study

A study by theUniversity of Calgary's Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre says despite what may be widely believed that more body checking experience protects players from injuries and concussions it discoveredthe opposite to be true.

The three-year researchproject found 15- to 17-year-oldhockey playerswith three or more years of body checking experience had more than double the injuries and concussions than those with two years or less experience.

"This is just further evidence in support of removing body checking in youth ice hockey to help prevent injuries," said PaulEliason, a post-doctoral fellow in the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre.

The U of C studywas designedin partnership withHockey Canada, Hockey Alberta and Hockey Calgary.

A spokesperson with Hockey Calgarysays the organization wanted to know whether its earlier decision to remove hitting in the younger,Under-13 age group left players at greater risk of injury when they moved up and started body checking.

"It's been a question that's been asked all the time:by not checking at younger ages, do you not learn it?" said KevinKobelka, executive director of Hockey Calgary.

"The studiesshow that we have made the right decision and kids can learn to body check at older levels."

Study breakdown

The study was conducted between2015-16 and 2017-18. It included941 U-18 minorhockey players from body checking divisionsin Calgary, Airdrie and Edmonton.

It compared players with three or more years of body checking experience with players who hadtwo or less years of hitting experience.

And it looked at the rates of all types of injuries, injuries that resulted in more than seven days off the ice,and concussions.

In the end, it foundplayerswho hadmore checking experience were injured or concussed more than 2 times the rate of the less experienced players. And themost common injury was a concussion regardless of experience making up more than a third of the injuries.

Researchersalso broke down the data by position played, weight, ageand level of hockey played.

Theydidn't find any notable difference in injuries or concussions based on weight, or player position (i.e., forward, defence or goalie).

But it did find lesser skilledplayers were injured nearly 1 times more often than the better skilled, elite players who representedthe top 20 per cent.

And among the 15-year-olds, the only age group they took a deeper dive on,they again found those with more hittingexperience had greater injuries.

"Thetake home still needs to be that really we're just showing here that more experience isn't protective, which is what the belief is in the hockey community," said Eliason.

Speed and skill to blame?

The study recommends further research to understand the role that behaviours such as aggression, or factors such as speed and skill play.

"Speeds of play and and skill level within within those agecategories we couldn't capture that and that could be putting them at a higher risk of injury," said Eliason.

George Conroyhas been running checking clinics in the Calgary areafor 16 years.

He believes those with more body experience are getting injured because they're likely more aggressive andcapable of inflicting harm in a game.

And, he says, the range of skill in the lower tiered teams is often greaterthan in the higher tiered teams, leavingsome players in those lower tiers more vulnerable to injuries.

"And so now there are wolves among sheep which can take full advantage of that," said Conroy.

But Conroysays one way to help reduce injuries is to spend more time teaching and practising properchecking a skill he believes is as important asshooting and stickhandling to game play.

"I've seen minor hockey associations give a two-hour course. It worries me. It's not preparing anybody for hit hockey. It's an enormous skill with enormous downsidethat you need to prepare for, you need to practice for, you need to train for," said Conroy.

No changes coming

Kobelka says Hockey Calgaryhas no plans to modify its program based on this latest study.

He says they believe they have a good mix right now.

Checking starts at the U-15 level. But for those who don't want to check, there is a non-checking option, too.

"We've gone to the level that we want to go at this point in time.

"We still have it at our elitelevels in our top tiers within our program.I think the customers are looking for that. And the players, tocontinueto develop togo on to higher levels, need that," said Kobelka.