“Body Checking and Injuries in Minor Hockey” , published by Capital Health (Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, 2008) provides a summary of what is known about body checking and minor hockey based on a wide range of sources. One of Capital Health’s suggestions for “What you can do … to promote healthy physical activity in a safe environment – ask your local hockey organization what they are doing to reduce and prevent injuries that occur due to body checking, and whether they would consider re-examining the age at which body checking is introduced.”

Here are links to other articles and studies about body checking and resulting injuries:

• 
  Teenagers Are More Vulnerable to Sport Concussions
  Research results published in "Brain Injury" by Université de Montréal neuropsychologist Dave Ellemberg - Feb 2012
• Return to play after an initial or recurrent concussion in a prospective study of physician-observed junior ice hockey concussions: implications for return to play after a concussion.
  
• A prospective study of physician-observed concussions during junior ice hockey: implications for incidence rates. and the CTV.ca report
  
• Bodychecking is 'detrimental to children': Doctor
  
• Body-Checking Rules and Childhood Injuries in Ice Hockey
  
• Injury Rates, Risk Factors, and Mechanisms of Injury in Minor Hockey
  
• Effect of bodychecking on injury rates among minor ice hockey players
  
• Should bodychecking be allowed in minor hockey?
  

Q: So why the concern about body checking?

A: There is significant medical evidence about the health risks associated with body checking. This evidence shows that body checking is associated with significantly increased risk of concussions and other injuries. “A Systematic Review of the Association Between Body Checking and Injury in Youth Ice Hockey” (March, 2009) (click here to read it) reports that “Opponents of body checking for young children, such as the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine, believe that body checking is the most common source of all injury types in hockey and that it should be eliminated from all recreational levels and only introduced in the elite levels at the Bantam (13-14 years) age or Midget (15-17 years) age. The American Academy of Pediatrics echoes these sentiments and recommends banning body checking at 15 years of age and below.”

A 2006 study showed that players were 42 percent more likely to suffer a concussion and 25 percent more likely to suffer fractures in Ontario leagues where body checking is allowed when compared to Quebec. There is also increasing evidence that concussions can have lifelong impacts.

Q: Many have said that if children were taught how to take and give a check at an earlier age, there would be fewer injuries. However, Capital Health reports that there is evidence that training for body checking does not reduce injuries, illegal body checks, or penalties.

A: Many have said that if children were taught how to take and give a check at an earlier age, there would be fewer injuries. However, Capital Health reports that there is evidence that training for body checking does not reduce injuries, illegal body checks, or penalties. There have been a number of studies that compare the experience in contact and non-contact leagues; these studies report that the incidence of injuries, especially head injuries, is much higher where body checking is allowed. A 2003 study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that body checking was associated with 86% of injuries sustained by players 9-15 years old. Players in contact leagues were four times as likely to be injured (among those 9–15 years old).

Q: Could injuries be reduced by greater enforcement of the rules so that there were fewer “cheap shots”?

A: Legal body checking can result in injuries. Of reported injuries among players 9–15 years old, 45% were caused by legal body checks and 8% by illegal checks, without a significant difference in the injury profiles between the two types of checking.

Q: What is Hockey Canada doing about this?

A: It is Hockey Canada’s official position that body checking is a legitimate strategy for minor hockey players and safety can be enhanced through proper instruction.

In 2006, Hockey Canada authorized pilots in Ontario and Saskatchewan that lowered the age for introducing body checking from Minor Peewee (age 11) to Atom (ages 9 and 10). At a 2007 semi-annual meeting of Hockey Canada’s Board of Directors, a motion was debated and defeated, proposing that body checking be allowed at the Atom (age 9-10) level. This confirmed the decision to end the pilots. http://www.gthlcanada.com/bulletins/29Nov07_BodyChecking.pdf
Hockey Canada committed to study the impacts of body checking and established an information site (www.bodychecking.ca). The most recent documents on that site appear to be from 2005.

Q: Are there existing competitive non-contact leagues (above house league)?

A: For ages 18 and older, there are many hockey leagues available that do not allow body checking. In Toronto and many other communities, there are no alternatives for boys ages 11 to 18 who want to play competitively above the house league level. Interestingly, the leagues for girls, right up to the international levels, do not permit body checking. Why are boys and girls treated differently? This is an outdated view of our children’s needs.

Q: What am I to do as a parent of a Minor Peewee (or older) child who wants to play competitively without body contact?

A: Capital Health effectively summarizes what you can do to “promote healthy physical activity in a safe environment.” First, they suggest that you read more about the issue by looking into the many studies that are available. Second, approach your local hockey organization and question what they are doing to reduce and prevent injuries. Also, ask them to reconsider the age at which body checking is introduced.
And if you live in the GTA, contact us and have your child tryout for the TNCHL!

With the support of:

The Ontario Trillium Foundation is an agency of the Government of Ontario
www.trilliumfoundation.org

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