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Epidemiology of Injuries in Elite Female Ice Hockey Players Allowed Body Checking : A Two-Year Prospective Cohort Study

Lahti, Amanda LU orcid ; Stenman, Emelie LU ; Kauppinen, Stefan ; Grundberg, Anton LU and Sundquist, Kristina LU (2026) In European Journal of Sport Science 26(9).
Abstract

In 2022, the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) became the first women's league in the world to allow body checking. This study examines injury epidemiology in SDHL 2 years after this policy change. Injuries resulting in time loss from training or games were recorded in a digital injury-reporting system. This study utilizes game-related injuries that occurred during the seasons 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 in SDHL to examine injury epidemiology. Overall, 46 game-related injuries were reported. The game injury rate (IR) was 17.2 (12.6-23.0) per 1000 player-hours. Body checking was the most common individual injury mechanism (n = 9; 20%) and concussions were the most frequent injury type, accounting for all head injuries (IR: 3.7 (1.8-6.9),... (More)

In 2022, the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) became the first women's league in the world to allow body checking. This study examines injury epidemiology in SDHL 2 years after this policy change. Injuries resulting in time loss from training or games were recorded in a digital injury-reporting system. This study utilizes game-related injuries that occurred during the seasons 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 in SDHL to examine injury epidemiology. Overall, 46 game-related injuries were reported. The game injury rate (IR) was 17.2 (12.6-23.0) per 1000 player-hours. Body checking was the most common individual injury mechanism (n = 9; 20%) and concussions were the most frequent injury type, accounting for all head injuries (IR: 3.7 (1.8-6.9), n = 10; 22%). Most commonly, injuries occurred in the third period (n = 21; 46%), where nine of them occurred within the final six minutes of the game. Of all concussions (n = 10; 22%), six occurred in the third period. In 17 (37%) of all injuries and in five of 10 (50%) concussion events, the player continued to play despite sustaining an injury. This descriptive study is the first to examine injury epidemiology in elite women's ice hockey permitting body checking. Although concussions were the most common injury type, most commonly attributed to body checking, the results should be interpreted cautiously due to a limited number of injuries, estimated exposure, the absence of a comparator cohort, and incomplete reporting. The findings highlight the importance of injury surveillance strategies when introducing body checking in women's ice hockey.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Humans, Hockey/injuries, Female, Brain Concussion/epidemiology, Prospective Studies, Sweden/epidemiology, Athletic Injuries/epidemiology, Young Adult, Adult, Craniocerebral Trauma/epidemiology
in
European Journal of Sport Science
volume
26
issue
9
article number
e70245
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:105048420953
  • pmid:42658026
ISSN
1536-7290
DOI
10.1002/ejsc.70245
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
© 2026 The Author(s). European Journal of Sport Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH on behalf of European College of Sport Science.
id
315c64ef-5dad-4ca9-995b-2525cb18dcd6
date added to LUP
2026-09-03 16:47:26
date last changed
2026-09-04 04:00:37
@article{315c64ef-5dad-4ca9-995b-2525cb18dcd6,
  abstract     = {{<p>In 2022, the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) became the first women's league in the world to allow body checking. This study examines injury epidemiology in SDHL 2 years after this policy change. Injuries resulting in time loss from training or games were recorded in a digital injury-reporting system. This study utilizes game-related injuries that occurred during the seasons 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 in SDHL to examine injury epidemiology. Overall, 46 game-related injuries were reported. The game injury rate (IR) was 17.2 (12.6-23.0) per 1000 player-hours. Body checking was the most common individual injury mechanism (n = 9; 20%) and concussions were the most frequent injury type, accounting for all head injuries (IR: 3.7 (1.8-6.9), n = 10; 22%). Most commonly, injuries occurred in the third period (n = 21; 46%), where nine of them occurred within the final six minutes of the game. Of all concussions (n = 10; 22%), six occurred in the third period. In 17 (37%) of all injuries and in five of 10 (50%) concussion events, the player continued to play despite sustaining an injury. This descriptive study is the first to examine injury epidemiology in elite women's ice hockey permitting body checking. Although concussions were the most common injury type, most commonly attributed to body checking, the results should be interpreted cautiously due to a limited number of injuries, estimated exposure, the absence of a comparator cohort, and incomplete reporting. The findings highlight the importance of injury surveillance strategies when introducing body checking in women's ice hockey.</p>}},
  author       = {{Lahti, Amanda and Stenman, Emelie and Kauppinen, Stefan and Grundberg, Anton and Sundquist, Kristina}},
  issn         = {{1536-7290}},
  keywords     = {{Humans; Hockey/injuries; Female; Brain Concussion/epidemiology; Prospective Studies; Sweden/epidemiology; Athletic Injuries/epidemiology; Young Adult; Adult; Craniocerebral Trauma/epidemiology}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{9}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Sport Science}},
  title        = {{Epidemiology of Injuries in Elite Female Ice Hockey Players Allowed Body Checking : A Two-Year Prospective Cohort Study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejsc.70245}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/ejsc.70245}},
  volume       = {{26}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}