Advanced materials for head and body protection to decrease the risk of head trauma in youth ice hockey

冰球被公认为加拿大的全国性冬季运动，并在世界上70多个国家进行比赛。在加拿大的637,000名注册球员中，548,469名是年轻人，88,541名是年轻女孩。安全的体育锻炼对青少年的身体、心理和社会发展都有很好的好处，但也有脑损伤的风险。在加拿大，冰球运动送往医院的与运动相关的脑损伤患者数量最多，其中大部分是儿童和青少年。随着越来越多的证据表明，头部创伤与不良的心理健康结果、学习成绩和社会发展之间存在急性和慢性关系，青年脑创伤已成为一个公共卫生问题。这些风险与影响的大小和频率有关，表现为大脑功能、连接性、激活和认知的变化。考虑到曲棍球在年轻人中的流行，当务之急是努力减少与脑损伤相关的个人和经济成本。虽然头盔和防护衬垫的设计有所改进，但青少年冰球的脑震荡发生率仍然没有受到影响，这是根据成人特定参数设计的标准和设备的结果。研究发现，与成年人相比，年轻人，特别是女孩，更容易受到能量影响较小的脑损伤。青少年冰球中头部撞击的质量、速度和顺应性尚未被定义或应用于为这些运动员开发更安全的保护。使用冲击频率、位置、质量、速度和顺应性来测量冰球运动中年龄组、性别和竞技水平的脑损伤的头盔和身体器械测试方法尚不存在。旨在降低青少年球员头部创伤风险的防护装备(头盔、肩部和肘部护垫)也不存在。这项拟议的研究将弥补这一知识鸿沟，为降低年轻人头部创伤的风险提供创新。这项研究将为CCM提供：(1)针对青少年冰球的头盔和身体防护装备的创新；(2)防护装备的性能测量测试方案；(3)提高对青少年冰球脑损伤机制的理解。

Ice hockey is recognized as Canada's national winter sport and played in over 70 countries around the world. Of the 637,000 registered players in Canada, 548,469 are youth, 88,541 are young girls. Safe physical exercise has well documented physical, mental and social benefits in the development of youth, however comes with a risk for brain injury. In Canada, ice hockey sends the largest number of patients to the hospital for sports related brain injuries, most of whom are children and adolescents. Brain trauma in youth has become a public health concern as evidence establishing acute and chronic relationships between head trauma and poor mental health outcomes, scholastic performance and social development continue to grow. These risks associate with both the magnitude and frequency of impact, manifested by changes in brain function, connectivity, activation and cognition. Considering the popularity of hockey among youth, it is imperative that efforts be taken to reduce the personal and economic costs associated with brain injuries. While helmet and protective padding designs have improved, concussion incidence in youth ice hockey has remained unaffected, the result of standards and equipment designed from adult specific parameters. Research identifies youth, particularly girls, as being susceptible to brain injury from lower energy impacts compared to adults. Mass, velocity, and compliance of head impacts in youth ice hockey have not been defined or applied to develop safer protection for these players. Helmet and body equipment test methods using impact frequency, location, mass, velocity, and compliance to measure brain trauma for age group, gender, and competitive level in ice hockey do not exist. Protective equipment (helmets, shoulder & elbow pads) designed to decrease risk of head trauma in youth players also do not exist. The proposed research will remedy this knowledge gap, providing innovations to decrease head trauma risk in youth. This research will provide CCM: (1) helmet and body protective equipment innovations specific to boys and girls youth ice hockey; (2) performance measurement test protocols for protective equipment; (3) improved understanding of brain injury mechanism in youth ice hockey.