Abstract
Players in the National Hockey League (NHL) are often sidelined by injuries, including concussion. The acute, intermediate and long-term effects of repetitive head trauma remain a concern of many. In 1997, the NHL and NHL Players Association established the NHL-NHL Players Association Concussion Program to diagnose, assess and treat concussion via a standardized and scientific approach. Documenting and analyzing the trends, incidence and underlying mechanisms of concussion may help in devising future prevention and treatment plans for concussion in hockey in general and the NHL in particular. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to systematically review and summarize the existing published literature on the trends, incidence rates and underlying mechanisms of concussion in the NHL.
Highlights
Documenting and analyzing the trends, prevalence and underlying mechanisms of concussion may help in devising future prevention and treatment plans for concussion in hockey in general and the National Hockey League (NHL) in particular
Fighting accounted for about 9% of concussions in the NHL
Reducing the number of concussions in the NHL must be achieved in different ways and deciding on preventative measures should be an evidence-based approach
Summary
MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library records were searched to identify all studies related to concussion in the NHL. The following phrases were used as Medical Subject Heading and search terms for all databases: ‘professional hockey [AND] concussion’ and ‘national hockey league [AND] concussion’. The returned articles underwent a preliminary screening by the senior author. A priori, inclusionary criteria was defined as high-level evidence (Level I, II and III) empirical studies. Level IV (crosssectional and case series) studies were included as well due to the limited published literature on concussion in the NHL. Exclusionary criteria included Level V evidence (case report and expert opinion) studies. Reference lists of the retrieved articles were examined for other pertinent sources
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
