Written by:
27/08/2010 10:14 AM 

With summer coming to a close and September around the corner, one’s thoughts naturally turn to…hockey! 

Well, OK it instantly comes to my mind because it keeps popping up on my “Google Alert” for the word “safety.” But it seems I’m not the only one. At the current world hockey summit, the dialogue over how young is too young for kids to start body checking, has taken over the summit as well as the sports pages.

Now hockey is one of those sports with lots of safety equipment and high compliance rates for wearing it. But for kids involved in hockey over the age of 11 in Canada, injuries remain high and more specifically brain injuries account for 15 percent of game related injuries.

University of Calgary researcher Carolyn Emery sheds some light on this phenomenon in her new study recently published in the June issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Because most kids are introduced to body checking at age 11 in every province in Canada except Quebec, we see a spike in hockey injuries, more specifically we see more concussions after age 11. In Quebec, body checking is only introduced at age 13. When Dr. Emery compared 11-year-old kids who were playing in leagues that allowed body checking to those that didn’t, she found that 11 year olds who were allowed to body check were three times more likely to have a game-related head injury.

In a recent article by Canadian Press, Dr. Mark Aubry, the International Ice Hockey Federation's chief medical officer said: "We're exposing these kids to an increased risk of injury at an age where I think we should still be talking about skill development and having fun." He went on to say that, “players should not engage in fierce physical contact until they are 13 or 14 years old.” 

Philadelphia Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette’s 12-year-old son suffered a concussion while playing last year and he has expressed great concern over the issue of body checking in children’s hockey. However, in a statement in the same article, Mr. Laviolette noted that the kids on this son’s team “take legitimate runs at each other." This shows how complex the issue can be for those involved in the sport.

Concussions and other traumatic brain injuries may kick off life-long health problems like epilepsy, sleep apnoea, psychiatric problems and non-neurological disorders such as sexual dysfunction and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, among other conditions.

In light of all of these health problems, maybe it’s time to just re-think body checking for kids at any age. Let’s face it; the overwhelming majority of kids will never play in the NHL. Isn’t body checking a skill that can be taught later in life, when, (or if) your child should actually be good enough to play professionally? And as parents, are we really educated enough on the potential health risks to make a sound decision about exposing our kids to this type of injury? Is body checking in children’s hockey even really needed?

Maybe it’s time to encourage the kids to embrace basketball… at least until it comes up on a Google Alert!

Copyright ©2010 Safekids Media

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Tags: hockey , injury , sports , helmets , kids , children , ice hockey , winter , safety

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Location: Blogs Safety Sports

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