There is increasing concern among parents, coaches, and officials about injury risk in youth ice hockey, particularly in light of recent evidence suggesting that incidence of serious injury is considerably under reported. However, an adequate method for ascertaining injury risk for concussion does not yet exist. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among variables measuring exposure and head impact forces in a group of representative level bantam aged hockey players. Across an entire hockey season, trained research assistants attended games and recorded the duration of time spent on the ice for each player (i.e., exposure time) and total number of body contacts using time-on-task software designed specifically for this study. A body contact included any intentional or incidental contact between two players. Collectively, these variables provide a simple, easily administered measure of head injury risk for researchers collecting data in this area. However, their relationship to actual brain trauma is unknown. To this end, head acceleration data were also collected using helmet-based accelerometers that provide measures of linear accelerations experienced by each player. These data were collected by telemetry methods and represent data that are likely very useful for injury researchers but not without sufficient costs. Results demonstrated low associations among the data sources. A method based on combining data sources (through an examination of their potential relationships) is proposed to maximize the potential to identify at-risk youth in minor hockey.
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