When 11- and 12-year-old children are allowed to bodycheck as part of peewee hockey, they face three times the risk of suffering a concussion or other serious injury compared to young players who are not allowed to roughhouse in this way, Canadian researchers report, wrote US News & World Report June 8:

The report is published in the June 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Alison Macpherson, an epidemiologist in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the Faculty of Health, called the research, “the best study on bodychecking and injury that I’ve seen.”

The debate over bodychecking centres on just when these moves should be introduced to young players, Macpherson said. Other studies have found that the peewee level is not a good time to introduce bodychecking, because of wide disparities in the size of the players, she said. “Body checking should not be part of the game for peewee players,” said Macpherson, who also has a son who plays hockey. “Bodychecking should not be introduced until children are 16,” she contends, because “concussions can be very bad for children.”

The complete article is available online.

Macpherson is also a member of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution.

Republished courtesy of YFile – York University’s daily e-bulletin.