Injury and Illness Surveillance at the 2024 Hockey Australia U/18 National Championships.
Erin Smyth, Matthew King, Emily Bell
PMID 41346848WHAT IT FOUND
Youth hockey athletes reported many injuries and illnesses during the tournament.
Self-report identified 135 new injuries, while first-aid officers recorded 13. Knee, lower leg/achilles and ankle were the most common injury areas.
Key findings
01Athlete self-report identified 135 new injuries during the tournament, while first-aid observer reporting identified 13 injuries.
02The most frequently injured areas during the tournament were knee (30), lower leg/achilles (27) and ankle (23).
03Drag flicking was not related to injury occurrence after controlling for sex (adjusted odds ratio 1.44, 95% confidence interval 0.83 to 2.48, p=0.19).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 298 of 429 invited athletes completed the post-tournament questionnaire, so post-tournament injury and illness counts may miss athletes who did not respond. The study used a convenience sample of athletes at one national tournament, so it may not represent all youth hockey athletes. First-aid officers may have missed injuries managed by team physiotherapists or non-time-loss injuries, which explains why self-report found many more injuries. The questionnaire groups lower leg and Achilles injuries together, so it cannot separate shin and Achilles problems that may need different care. Drag flicking analysis had only 74 drag flickers completing the post-tournament questionnaire, so the null association cannot be treated as strong evidence.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The work was supported by a Performance Health Research Grant awarded by the Australian Institute of Sport.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat drag flicking as proven to raise injury risk. In the adjusted analysis, drag flicking was not related to injury occurrence after controlling for sex (adjusted odds ratio 1.44, 95% confidence interval 0.83 to 2.48, p=0.19).
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →