When players crash hard into the boards, slide across the ice for meters in a fall, or get a stick between the ribs, you don’t exactly want to trade places as a spectator. But as tough as ice hockey may seem, the sport is more harmless than many think. That’s because the professional protective equipment that is standard for ice hockey players today can cushion most stick blows and falls.
Ice hockey: protection is regulation
Ice hockey is a team sport played on an ice surface with two teams of five field players and a goalie each. With the help of special ice hockey sticks, the players try to get a hard rubber disc, called the puck, into the opponent’s goal. Both the players wear skates and padded protective equipment. This consists of a helmet with a visor or grille, a neck brace, chest protectors, elbow pads, genital protectors, shin pads that reach above the knee and thick gloves. Under the protective armor is worn thermal underwear and padded pants, and over it comes the jersey, which marks the affiliation to a team. Since the goalkeeper is particularly vulnerable to the sharp shots with the puck, he wears a throat protector, a chest protector and a special helmet in addition to the normal equipment.
Common injuries in ice hockey
An ice hockey puck can reach up to 160 kilometers per hour with a powerful blow. If it then hits an unprotected area, lacerations and bruises are inevitable. Intended or unintended stick blows from opponents or a hard impact against the boards surrounding the ice surface also often cause injuries. Due to the fast, aggressive style of play and the special conditions on the ice surface, there is a typical injury pattern in ice hockey. About 80 percent of the injuries are acute traumas, mostly resulting from direct physical contact in a duel. The remaining 20 percent are overuse injuries. Nine out of ten professional players suffer at least one injury per season. However, since the wounds are mostly superficial and easily treated, this statistic does not necessarily attest to the dangerous nature of the sport.
Head and arm injuries in ice hockey.
Head injuries are among the most common injuries in ice hockey, accounting for 33 percent of all injuries. Lacerations or cuts often occur on players’ faces, necks and skulls, but most can be treated or stitched on the spot. Thanks to modern helmets, severe craniocerebral trauma or fractures to the nose or cheekbone rarely occur in ice hockey. Since the wearing of half-visors is mandatory in Germany, eye injuries in ice hockey are also rather rare. At 21 percent, the arms and hands are the second most frequently affected. The shoulder is affected the most, for example by bruising during a fall or when hitting the boards. Despite shoulder protectors, fractures and lesions occur repeatedly as a result of stick hits or pucks. If a stick or puck hits the fingers with full force, even a well-padded glove can’t do much: It comes to finger fractures, capsule or ligament tears. Goalkeepers are particularly at risk of hand injuries.
Ice hockey: injuries to legs and feet.
Seventeen percent of sports injuries in ice hockey involve players’ legs, hips and knees. Classic ice hockey accidents include torn ligaments or capsules in the knee joint, especially at the medial knee ligament. Even fractures of the kneecap can occur despite knee pads in the event of a very hard impact on the ice or on the boards. In the area of the edge of the shoe, bruises and even fractures are common due to falls or stick hits. With 11 percent frequency, the feet and ankle are at risk of injury. At the ankle joint, torn ligaments or injuries to the syndesmosis are common. In the foot, fractures of the metatarsus or tarsus are common. Among the rarer clinical pictures in ice hockey are injuries to the spine and torso. Due to collisions with other players or the boards, bruises often occur here, but the injuries are usually not so bad due to the thick padding of the protectors.
Prevention of injuries
The majority of injuries in ice hockey are acute. They usually result from aggressive duels, stick hits or hits with the puck. Therefore, wearing professional protective equipment is the basic requirement for a safe game.Long-term damage and muscle injuries can be prevented with extensive warm-up phases before training or competition. If the players are in a good training condition and physically fit, nothing can stand in the way of a low-injury game under the principle of “fair play”.
