Bodychecking rules don't reduce concussions in elite hockey

2009-2010 NHL season saw fewer head injuries than later seasons, despite rule changes

2013-07-18

(Press-News.org) Recent changes in hockey rules regulating contact to the head have not reduced the number of concussions suffered by players during National Hockey League (NHL) season, according to research published July 17 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Michael Cusimano and colleagues from the Injury Prevention Research Office at St. Michael's Hospital, Canada. The authors compared reports hockey players suffering concussions in the National Hockey League (NHL) before and after rules regulating head contact were changed in 2010-11 and 2011-12. Based on official game records and team injury reports, the authors found that the number of NHL concussions or concussion-like head injuries in 2009-10 were lower than in the 2010-11 and later seasons. Sixty-four percent of the concussions were caused by body-checking, while only 28% were caused by illegal incidents. The authors conclude that rules regulating body-checking to the head did not reduce the number of players suffering concussions, so additional changes or stricter enforcement of existing rules may be required to reduce the risk of these injuries further.

### Citation: Donaldson L, Asbridge M, Cusimano MD (2013) Bodychecking Rules and Concussion in Elite Hockey. PLoS ONE 8(7): e69122. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069122

Financial Disclosure: This research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Strategic Team Grant in Applied Injury Research # TIR-103946, the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, as well as University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine CREMS funding to LD. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

PLEASE LINK TO THE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT (URL goes live after the embargo ends): http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069122

Disclaimer: This press release refers to upcoming articles in PLOS ONE. The releases have been provided by the article authors and/or journal staff. Any opinions expressed in these are the personal views of the contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLOS. PLOS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the release and article and your use of such information. About PLOS ONE: PLOS ONE is the first journal of primary research from all areas of science to employ a combination of peer review and post-publication rating and commenting, to maximize the impact of every report it publishes. PLOS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), the open-access publisher whose goal is to make the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource.

All works published in PLOS ONE are Open Access. Everything is immediately available—to read, download, redistribute, include in databases and otherwise use—without cost to anyone, anywhere, subject only to the condition that the original authors and source are properly attributed. For more information about PLOS ONE relevant to journalists, bloggers and press officers, including details of our press release process and our embargo policy, see the everyONE blog at http://everyone.plos.org/media.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Plant-eating dinosaurs replaced teeth often, carried spares

2013-07-18

VIDEO: This is a CT-generated movie of the premaxilla of Diplodocus (YPM 4677), with bone rendered transparent and teeth opaque. Click here for more information. Some of the largest herbivorous dinosaurs replaced their teeth at a rate of approximately one tooth every 1-2 months to compensate for tooth wear from crunching up plants, according to research published July 17 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Michael D'Emic from Stony Brook University and colleagues from other ...

Keeping the reserve force home

2013-07-18

KANSAS CITY, MO - Hematopoietic stem cells—bone marrow-derived adult stem cells that give rise to the wide variety of specialized blood cells—come in two flavors: the reserve force sits quietly waiting to be called upon while the active arm continually proliferates spawning billions of blood cells every day. In their latest study, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research reveal a new mechanism that is critical in maintaining the delicate balance between the two. Publishing in the July 17 advance online issue of Nature, the team led by Stowers Investigator ...

Protein responsible for 'bad' blood vessel growth discovered

2013-07-18

The discovery of a protein that encourages blood vessel growth, and especially 'bad' blood vessels – the kind that characterise diseases as diverse as cancer, age-related macular degeneration and rheumatoid arthritis – has been reported in the journal Nature. The team at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology discovered the new protein, called LRG1, by screening for mouse genes that are over-expressed in abnormal retinal blood vessels in diseased eyes. In these diseased retinas the LRG1 protein is expressed by blood vessel endothelial cells, which line blood vessel walls. ...

Molecular switch controls the destiny of self-eating cells

2013-07-18

The study is the result of a collaboration of scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, University of Michigan, and University of California San Diego, USA, who were interested in finding out whether autophagy can be affected by events in the cell nucleus. Surprisingly, they discovered that a signal chain in the nucleus serves as a kind of molecular switch that determines whether the cell dies or survives. Put simply autophagy is a process whereby the cell consumes parts of itself, and is a way for it to clean up abnormal lumps of proteins and rid itself of damaged ...

Routine tasks pose problems for older individuals with vitamin D deficiency

2013-07-18

Chevy Chase, MD—Vitamin D-deficient older individuals are more likely to struggle with everyday tasks such as dressing or climbing stairs, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Scientists estimate many as 90 percent of older individuals are vitamin D deficient. The vitamin – typically absorbed from sunlight or on a supplementary basis through diet – plays a key role in bone and muscle health. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to a decline in bone density, muscle weakness, osteoporosis ...

PFC exposure tied to altered thyroid function

2013-07-18

Chevy Chase, MD—Exposure to perfluorinated chemicals is linked to changes in thyroid function and may raise the risk of mild hypothyroidism in women, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Perfluorinated chemicals, or PFCs, are compounds used to manufacture fabrics, carpets, paper coatings, cosmetics and a variety of other products. Among humans and wildlife, PFC exposure is widespread, according to the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health ...

UMMS scientists show proof-of-principal for silencing extra chromosome responsible for Down syndrome

2013-07-18

WORCESTER, MA – Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School are the first to establish that a naturally occurring X chromosome "off switch" can be rerouted to neutralize the extra chromosome responsible for trisomy 21, also known as Down syndrome, a genetic disorder characterized by cognitive impairment. The discovery provides the first evidence that the underlying genetic defect responsible for Down syndrome can be suppressed in cells in culture (in vitro). This paves the way for researchers to study the cell pathologies and identify genome-wide pathways ...

Bees under threat from disease-carrying bumblebee imports, research reveals

2013-07-18

Stricter controls over bumblebee imports to the UK are urgently required to prevent diseases spreading to native bumblebees and honeybees, scientists have warned. The call follows the discovery of parasites in over three-quarters of imported bumblebee colonies they tested. The study - the first of its kind in the UK - is published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology. While wild species of bees and other insects pollinate many crops, commercially-reared and imported bumblebees are essential for pollination of greenhouse crops such as tomatoes. They are also used to ...

Mortality rates for emergency surgical admissions vary widely among hospitals in England

2013-07-18

A new study reveals significant hospital-to-hospital variability in patient death rates following emergency surgical admissions in England. Published early online in the BJS (British Journal of Surgery), the study also found that survival rates were higher in hospitals with better resources. Patients presenting as emergencies account for the majority of deaths associated with general surgery. There is increasing evidence that the quality of care for these high-risk patients is variable across hospitals within England's National Health Service, which is the country's ...

80 percent of Malaysian Borneo degraded by logging

2013-07-18

Washington, DC—A study published in the July 17, issue of the journal PLOS ONE found that more than 80% of tropical forests in Malaysian Borneo have been heavily impacted by logging. The Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak were already thought to be global hotspots of forest loss and degradation due to timber and oil palm industries, but the rates and patterns of change have remained poorly measured by conventional field or satellite approaches. A research team from the University of Tasmania, University of Papua New Guinea, and the Carnegie Institution for Science ...

Bodychecking rules don't reduce concussions in elite hockey

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: