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

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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.