Injuries up after bodychecking rule change

TORONTO, March 20 (UPI) -- Brain injuries have risen sharply among younger children following the relaxing of bodychecking rules in Canadian youth hockey, Toronto researchers say.

Study leader Dr. Michael Cusimano, a neurosurgeon at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, says minor hockey players in the Atom division are more than 10 times likelier to suffer a brain injury since bodychecking was first allowed among 9-year-olds and 10-year-olds during the 1998-1999 season.

Cusimano, director of the Injury Prevention Research Centre at St. Michael's Hospital, says the odds of visiting an emergency room due to a brain injury from bodychecking increased significantly among all minor hockey players after Hockey Canada relaxed bodychecking rules.

Cusimano and his research team examined the records of 8,552 male youth ages 6-17, who visited one of five emergency departments in Ontario for hockey-related injuries that occurred before and after the rule change.

The study, published in the journal Open Medicine, found more than half of hockey-related injuries were a result of bodychecking, while the risk of a head or neck injury, including concussions, increased across all minor hockey divisions.