REVIEW OF TYPICAL ICE-HOCKEY INJURIES - SURVEY OF THE NORTH-AMERICAN NHL AND HOCKEY-CANADA VERSUS EUROPEAN LEAGUES

Ice hockey is considerd to be one of the fastest and roughest of all s ports. Prospective injury reports of the North American National Hocke y League, the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and of several Europ ean teams (UdSSR, CSSR, Sweden and Switzerland) are reviewed to evalua te the patterns, anatomic locations, circumstances and sequelae of ice hockey-related injuries. Although different injury reporting systems are used in North America and Europe, knee injuries (sprains of the co llateral ligaments) accounted for the majority of games missed (40%), followed by injuries to the shoulder (dislocation, acromio-clavicular joint separation, rotator cuff strain and tears, 20%), the groin (15%) , and the back (10%). Mandatory helmets and face masks reduced the num ber of facial and eye injuries to a quarter from 1972 to 1983. The fre quency of only concussion but also cervical spine lesions is increasin g. The prevention of head, face, eye and neck injuries should mainly b e accomplished by enforcement of current rules (mandatory helmets with face masks) and institution of new rules. Improvement in protective e quipment would also have the effect of decreasing the frequency of inj uries.