@article {McKay57, author = {Carly D McKay and Raymond J Tufts and Benjamin Shaffer and Willem H Meeuwisse}, title = {The epidemiology of professional ice hockey injuries: a prospective report of six NHL seasons}, volume = {48}, number = {1}, pages = {57--62}, year = {2014}, doi = {10.1136/bjsports-2013-092860}, publisher = {British Association of Sport and Excercise Medicine}, abstract = {Background There is a paucity of literature examining injury and illness rates in men{\textquoteright}s professional ice hockey. This study aimed to determine injury and illness rates in the NHL over six seasons, and identify predictors of injury-related time loss in this population. Methods This study involved an inclusive cohort of hockey players from all NHL teams competing in the 2006{\textendash}2007 through 2011{\textendash}2012 seasons. A standardised electronic injury surveillance system was used to report injury and illness events. The primary outcome was regular season and postseason time-loss injury/illness. The secondary outcome was man-games lost from the competition. Results On the basis of the estimated athlete exposures (AEs), the overall regular season incidence density was 15.6 injuries/1000 AEs and 0.7 illnesses/1000 AEs. Based on recorded time on ice, the injury rates were roughly threefold higher at 49.4 injuries/1000 player game-hours and 2.4 illnesses/1000 player game-hours. There was a reduction in injury rates over the 6-year period, with the greatest reduction between the 2007{\textendash}2008 and 2008{\textendash}2009 seasons. Multivariate predictors of time loss greater than 10 days were being a goalie (OR=1.68, 95\% CI 1.18 to 2.38), being injured in a road game (OR=1.43, 95\% CI 1.25~to 1.63) and the mechanism of injury being a body check (OR=2.21, 95\% CI 1.86~to 2.62). Conclusions There was an overall reduction in the time-loss injury and illness rates over six seasons. Being a goaltender, being injured on the road and being injured by a body check were the risk factors for time loss greater than five {\textquoteleft}man games{\textquoteright}.}, issn = {0306-3674}, URL = {https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/48/1/57}, eprint = {https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/48/1/57.full.pdf}, journal = {British Journal of Sports Medicine} }