Assessing External And Internal Loads Impacting Injury Odds In Male Collegiate Ice Hockey Players

While considerable research has outlined high injury risks associated with playing ice hockey across many demographics, work examining player load as a risk for injury is less clear. Currently, no research has considered the association between wearable technology-derived player load and risk of injury measured through player self-reported complaints across a season. PURPOSE: To record self-reported complaints of injury/pain and investigate the associations between wearable technology-derived internal and external loads and odds of player complaints of injury and pain in male ice hockey players. METHODS: Self-reported complaints of injuries and pain were collected for 27 university male players (22.0 ± 1.2 y, 86.7 ± 5.5 kg, 181.4 ± 5.0 cm). Additionally, weekly cumulated external (exposure, skating distance, time spent skating in speed zones, and number of skating events measured via local positioning system) and internal (training impulse (TRIMP) and sessional rate of perceived exertion (sRPE)) loads were measured in practices and home games throughout the season. Binomial logistic regressions (crude odds ratios (OR)) were used to assess the associations between weekly load measures and the odds of players reporting a complaint, in both the week of and the week following load measurements. Load measures were grouped into low (control), low-medium, medium-high, and high quartiles. RESULTS: Players reported an incidence of 77 and a prevalence of 87 complaints during the season. When assessing complaints within the same week as the cumulative loads, there was an increase in the odds of a complaint within the medium-high load group for weekly cumulative sRPE compared to the low load group (OR = 1.86, p = 0.04), but no changes in the odds of a complaint in any external load measures when comparing high and low load groups. For complaints following a weekly load, there was an increase in the odds of a complaint in the high load group for the previous week’s cumulative exposure (OR = 2.75, p < 0.01), sRPE (OR = 3.03, p < 0.01), time spent in low-speed (OR = 2.09, p = 0.03), and medium speed zones (OR = 2.05, p = 0.04) compared to the low load group. CONCLUSION: Several load measures used in this novel study indicate greater odds of male ice hockey players reporting complaints when experiencing high levels of load. PepsiCo and Mitacs