Information about project titled 'Association of training and game loads to injury risk in junior male elite ice hockey players: a prospective cohort study'
Association of training and game loads to injury risk in junior male elite ice hockey players: a prospective cohort study
| Details about the project - category | Details about the project - value |
|---|---|
| Project status: | Published |
| Project manager: | Anine Nordstrøm |
| Supervisor(s): | Roald Bahr, Ove Talsnes |
| Coworker(s): | Ben Clarsen |
Description
Background: Training and game loads are potential risk factors of injury in junior elite ice hockey, but the association of training and game loads to injuries is unknown
Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between training and game load, and injuries in junior elite ice hockey.
Methods: In this prospective cohort study, we monitored all health problems among 159 male junior ice hockey players (mean age,16 years; range, 15-19 years) at sports-specific high schools during the 2018-2019 school year. Players reported their health problems every week using the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Overuse Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC-H2). The number of training sessions and games was reported for 33 weeks. We calculated the previous 2-week difference in training/game loads as well as the cumulative training/game loads of the previous 2, 3, 4, and 6 weeks and explored potential associations between training/game loads and injury risk using mixed-effects logistic regression.
Results: The players reported 133 acute injuries, 75 overuse injuries, and 162 illnesses in total, and an average of 8.8 (SD ±3.9) training sessions and 0.9 (SD ± 1.1) games per week. We found no association between the difference of the two previous weeks or the previous 2- 3- and 4-week cumulative, training or game load and acute injuries, nor the difference of the two previous weeks, or the previous 4- and 6-week cumulative, training or game load and overuse injuries (OR, *1.0; P > .05 in all models).
Conclusion: In the current study of junior elite ice hockey players, there was no evidence of an association between cumulative exposure to training/game loads and injury risk.
Implications: This is the first study to investigate the relationship between training and game load, and injuries and illnesses in junior elite ice hockey. These data can provide information regarding recommendations for training and game load in junior ice hockey in the future.