The effect of collisions and personal fights in ice hockey on the spine

Ice hockey is considered a contact sport, during which there are personal fights, collisions or sudden accelerations and braking. All the listed movement factors affect the functionality of the spine. Thanks to its physiological curvature into lordosis and kyphosis and the intervertebral discs, the spine has absorption capacity, but even that has its limits. In case of sharp impacts, soft structures can be damaged, e.g. sprain, dislocation, contusion, tear or tear, or there is damage to the bone system - fractures, ruptures, vertebral displacements. Soft structures include muscles, ligaments and intervertebral discs. Among the most common diagnoses caused by impacts while playing ice hockey are intraspongy disc herniations (Schmorl's nodes), unilateral, bilateral to circular disc herniations, retrolistheses, ventrolistheses and edema of the bone marrow of the vertebra. Depending on the location, lumbar vertebrae and shoulders are most often damaged, less often cervical vertebrae, wrists and knees.