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国家冬季运动，在世界上70多个国家进行。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好处，但也有脑损伤的风险。在加拿大，冰球是因运动相关脑损伤而住院的人数最多的运动，其中大多数是儿童和青少年。随着证明头部创伤与不良心理健康结果、学习成绩和社会发展之间存在急性和慢性关系的证据不断增加，青年脑外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、连通性、激活和认知的变化。考虑到冰球在青少年中的受欢迎程度，必须努力减少与脑损伤相关的个人和经济成本。虽然头盔和保护垫的设计有所改进，但青少年冰球的脑震荡发生率仍未受到影响，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，青少年，尤其是女孩，更容易受到能量较低的影响而造成脑损伤。青少年冰球运动中头部撞击的质量、速度和依从性还没有被定义或应用于为这些球员开发更安全的保护。使用撞击频率、位置、质量、速度和依从性来测量冰球年龄组、性别和竞技水平的脑损伤的头盔和身体设备测试方法尚不存在。用于减少青少年球员头部创伤风险的防护设备（头盔、肩垫和肘垫）也不存在。拟议的研究将弥补这一知识差距，提供创新，以减少头部创伤的风险在青年。本研究将提供CCM:(1)针对男孩和女孩青少年冰球的头盔和身体防护装备创新；(2)防护用品性能测量试验规程；(3)提高了对青少年冰球运动脑损伤机制的认识。

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.