"Disappointing but not surprising:" Head injuries in youth ice hockey often involve illegal contact
MILWAUKEE -- Concussions are a risk that comes with contact sports -- that is common knowledge. But a new study finds when it comes to ice hockey, nearly half of those head injuries are coming from hits that aren't support to be happening at all.
The study, recently published in Pediatrics, found more than 40 percent of concussions in youth ice hockey players involved illegal contact.
"It's disappointing, but not surprising," said Dr. Kevin Walter, program director for pediatric and adolescent sports medicine at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. "With hockey, it's checking from behind, hitting someone in the neck and there's a reason that those activities are illegal because they're more likely to cause injuries."
The study also found younger players suffered more concussions than their older counterparts.
"You can make the argument that you should delay contact in sports, which I think is a solid one," said Dr. Walter.
Dr. Kevin Walter
But as Dr. Walter points out, the tricky part is that all kids mature at different rates.
"You're going to have bigger kids, you're going to have littler kids, and you've just got to try and balance that. So I don't think science is at the point where we can say here's the age for contact," Dr. Walter explained.
Dr. Walter does think better training, educational awareness and playing within the rules can make the game safer -- and will help lower the number of concussions. Those are goals WIAA officials say they are already pursuing.
Dr. Kevin Walter
"Our word to officials has always been always penalize players to the fullest extent of the penalty," said Tom Shafranski, WIAA assistant director.
The WIAA also keeps a list of players who get game disqualifications for inappropriate conduct -- and follows up with their schools.
"To develop a plan of action as to how they're going to prevent any future situations like this from taking place," said Shafranski.
FOX6 News asked if the WIAA was looking at making the boys' game more like the girls' game -- and getting rid of checking altogether. We were told it doesn't believe that is a needed step at this point.
