The second half of the presentation was divided into two videos, which are available below.
As a disclaimer, I’m a strength and conditioning coach. I’m not a physician, nor am I an expert on brain injuries. The information in these videos is NOT meant to be taken as medical advice, nor does it suggest that concussions are being mishandled in any way by medical professionals in hockey. My interest in concussions stems solely from wanting to ensure that I can help the players I work with find the best care via the most appropriate referrals to medical professionals, to help make sure they aren’t missing unnecessary time.
The Truth About Concussion-Like Symptoms: Part 3
The Truth About Concussion-Like Symptoms: Part 4
*This information is by no means a replacement for medical advice or diagnosis, nor does it suggest that any of the players whose names or images were presented in the videos had cases that were mishandled in any way. It’s simply meant to provide additional potential causes of symptoms so players are aware of what other injuries they may need to get checked out by a medical professional.
To your success,
Kevin Neeld
P.S. It has often been said that injury prevention is just good training. Now you can get access to a comprehensive hockey training system that can be altered to help improve the performance of U-10 players all the way up through the pros: Ultimate Hockey Training.
Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!
The Truth About Concussion-Like Symptoms
Over the last year, concussions have plagued all levels of hockey more than any other injury. While much attention is now being paid to the prevention of concussions and following more appropriate return to play protocols, the fact is that these injuries, and the other causes of related symptoms, are relatively poorly understood.
Last week I filmed a 30-minute presentation titled “The Truth About Concussion-Like Symptoms”. The presentation starts by discussing the basics regarding symptoms and the return to play process, which is incredibly important information to minimize the risk of repeat occurrences, and exponentially more profound long-term consequences. However, the real value of this presentation lies in identifying the most commonly overlooked predisposing factors and causes of concussion-like symptoms. As you’ll quickly see, we may have many players sitting out with concussion-like symptoms that don’t or no longer have a true concussion.
I strongly believe this is the most powerful collection of practical concussion information for hockey players that has ever been compiled. To make the information more manageable, I’ve divided the presentation into four parts. The first two are presented below. Please share this with everyone you know in the game of hockey. Information is power.
As a disclaimer, I’m a strength and conditioning coach. I’m not a physician, nor am I an expert on brain injuries. The information in these videos is NOT meant to be taken as medical advice, nor does it suggest that concussions are being mishandled in any way by medical professionals in hockey. My interest in concussions stems solely from wanting to ensure that I can help the players I work with find the best care via the most appropriate referrals to medical professionals, to help make sure they aren’t missing unnecessary time.
The Truth About Concussion-Like Symptoms: Part 1
The Truth About Concussion-Like Symptoms: Part 2
*This information is by no means a replacement for medical advice or diagnosis, nor does it suggest that any of the players whose names or images were presented in the videos had cases that were mishandled in any way. It’s simply meant to provide additional potential causes of symptoms so players are aware of what other injuries they may need to get checked out by a medical professional.
To your success,
Kevin Neeld
P.S. It has often been said that injury prevention is just good training. Now you can get access to a comprehensive hockey training system that can be altered to help improve the performance of U-10 players all the way up through the pros: Ultimate Hockey Training.
Please enter your first name and email below to sign up for my FREE Athletic Development and Hockey Training Newsletter!
Concussions in Hockey
Last week, I got a message from Jim Cruver about a video on concussions in hockey that he thought I should check out (thanks Jim!). This actually aired on ESPN mid-last week; it’s definitely worth the 7-minutes to watch. Check it out:
Great to see some of the teams from my home-town making the video as part of the goon-squad. And I don’t have the cleanest mouth, but I’d be embarrassed if I were featured on ESPN saying some of the things these coaches were caught saying to young kids.
My pro-USA Hockey American Development Model stance continues. I applaud Kevin McLaughlin, Senior Director of USA Hockey’s Hockey Development program, for the steps he’s taking in trying to cut back on hockey concussions at younger levels, and most notably for pushing the checking age up to 13, instead of 11.
I know the contact-enthusiasts will argue against this change, but the bottom line is that the physical development range is too large and the psychosocial maturity is not developed enough at this level for checking to be safely and properly implemented. There needs to be a policy change in the interest of protecting our young players and Kevin McLaughlin is taking the steps to make this happen. If you’re initial thought is, “checking is a part of the game, and shouldn’t be removed from the 11-12 year-old level,” I’d urge you to consider how you may feel if your son was drilled from behind by a 12-year old that looked like a 16-year old, suffered a concussion, and missed 6 months of playing. The point isn’t that checking isn’t a part of the game, it’s that it’s being implemented the wrong way, especially at these younger levels. A change in emphasis needs to start with coaches and trickle down to players and parents, quickly.
The #1 concern in making this change is that players will be less “skilled” at giving and receiving contact at the 13-14 year-old level because they haven’t had as much practice or experience. Logical argument. I think the big thing is that MOST kids aren’t being taught how to give and receive hits at any age, they’re just told to go after people. But that argument aside, there’s actually been some research on this issue that will help shed some light on whether early exposure helps make contact safer at the bantam level.
Study 1:
Hagel, B., Marko, J., Dryden, D., et al. (2006). Effect of Bodychecking on Injury Rates Among Minor Ice Hockey Players. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 175, 155-160.
This study looked at the effect on injury rates that a particular rule change had. This rule change moved 11-year olds into a contact league with 12-year olds, opposed to keeping them in a non-contact league with 10-year olds. Notable results:
The 11-year olds in the contact group had a 2.1x higher incidence of injuries than 11-year olds in a non-contact group. This injury rate was 85.5 per 1,000 players (astronomically high).
More than 2x greater incidence of injuries classified as “severe” amongst 11-year olds in contact group.
Contact-group had 3.4x greater incidence of concussions and 2.6x greater incidence of fractures
Study 2:
Macpherson, A., Rothman, L., & Howard, A. (2006). Body-Checking Rules and Childhood Injuries in Ice Hockey. Pediatrics, 117, e143-e147.
This study aimed to compare injury levels between Ontario youth hockey leagues (allowed body checking at 10-11 y/o range) and Quebec youth hockey leagues (allowed body checking at 14-15 y/o range). Straight from the abstract:
“Of the 4,736 hockey injuries, 3006 (63%) were in Ontario and 1730 (37%) were in Quebec. Most of the injuries occurred in areas in which checking was allowed (2824 [59.6%]). At ages 10 to 13, players had significantly greater odds of suffering a checking injury where checking was allowed (odds ratio [OR]: 1.86). Players in this age group were also more likely to suffer a concussion (OR: 1.42) or fracture (OR: 1.25) where checking was allowed. Among older players, when checking was allowed in both provinces, there were higher odds (OR: 1.90) of receiving a checking injury in the province that had introduced checking at a younger age, suggesting that there is no protective effect from learning to check earlier.”
Last sentence bolded for emphasis. Basically what this is saying is that players that have been checking since the 10-11 y/o age, were TWICE as likely to sustain a checking-related injury at the 14-15 y/o level compared to those that were just checking for the first time at this older age level.
These are far from the only two studies that illustrate these points, but they’re a good start. The take home messages from these studies is that introducing checking at younger ages substantially increases the injury rate at these levels, AND has absolutely no protective effect at older levels. In laymen’s terms, it’s a lose-lose.
Hockey can’t afford to lose any more players like this.
Hockey needs to get away from the “hit to hurt” mentality and get back to teaching the original intention of contact in the sport-separation of the player from the puck. Every hockey fan loves to watch a big hit, but we need to keep the potential consequences of these hits in mind. Some of the game’s best players have their careers cut short because of hits that probably shouldn’t have ever happened. Concussions in hockey deemed accidents are one thing, but coaches and parents (and even players!) encouraging players to take a run at someone is unacceptable. Hopefully the injuries to popular players like Sidney Crosby and Marc Savard, AND a growing body of research evidence will fuel a much-needed change in both the rules and teaching of the game.
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Hockey Nutrition and Supplements
I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about nutrition and supplements for hockey players. Rightfully so. The off-season is a make-or-break development time for a lot of players. Over the last week I came across two great articles that I wanted to share with you, one on nutrition (you can use this as a grocery list) and one on supplements. While I wouldn’t call these two articles a comprehensive look at nutrition and supplementation, they are a terrific starting place.
Top 55 Foods to Build Lean Muscle and Lose Body Fat from Mike Geary
Mike puts a “look better naked” spin on this article because his market is mostly people that…well…primarily want to look better naked. If an article title with phrases like “build muscle” and “lose fat” helps you buy in to eating healthier than all the better. In reality, this is just a long list of healthy foods that should be in every player’s diet. If you can’t find or get all the things on this list, don’t sweat it. Remember that some good steps are still better than no good steps. Get what you can and eat it as frequently as possible (e.g. don’t eat one healthy meal and 3 shit meals everyday).
Supplements 101 from Brian St. Pierre Brian is my go-to guy when I have nutrition questions, either for myself or for our athletes at Endeavor. In this article, Brian highlights 5 essential supplements that everyone should be taking. Again, this isn’t necessarily pitched to be specific to hockey players, but just things to improve overall health and well-being. With that said, all of these things will have performance-enhancing benefits for hockey players and should therefore not be overlooked.
On a related note, I just came across an article from Dr. Mike Roussell called The Secret Benefits of Creatine Revealed. Creatine is still one of the most misunderstood supplements in existence and it’s one that I recommend most of our hockey players take. The documented benefits are remarkable and the negatives are almost non-existent. Creatine helps build strength and muscle mass, which most people know, but it also helps with a host of other things that people are less familiar with. Dr. Roussell is a really bright guy, and he outlines 5 great benefits of creatine in this article.
Check back in a couple days as I’m working on a post on concussions in hockey that you’ll want to read. Until then!
