Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Feb 22;10(2):23259671221076849.
doi: 10.1177/23259671221076849. eCollection 2022 Feb.

Association Between Preseason Fitness Level and Risk of Injury or Illness in Male Elite Ice Hockey Players: A Prospective Cohort Study

Anine Nordstrøm  1   2 , Roald Bahr  1 , Ben Clarsen  1   3 , Ove Talsnes  2   4
Affiliations

Association Between Preseason Fitness Level and Risk of Injury or Illness in Male Elite Ice Hockey Players: A Prospective Cohort Study

Anine Nordstrøm et al. Orthop J Sports Med. .

Abstract

Background: Little is known about the association between physical fitness and the risk of injury or illness in ice hockey. The least-fit players may be more prone to injury and illness.

Purpose: To examine the association between preseason fitness level and injury or illness risk among elite ice hockey players during the regular season.

Study design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2.

Methods: A total of 133 male ice hockey players in the GET League (the premier professional league in Norway) completed 8 different exercises (40-m sprint, countermovement jump, 3000-m run, squat, bench press, chin-ups, brutal bench, and box jump) at the annual 1-day preseason testing combine. During the 2017-2018 competitive season, the players reported all health problems (acute injuries, overuse injuries, and illnesses) weekly (31 weeks) using the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems.

Results: Overall, the players reported 191 acute injuries, 82 overuse injuries, and 132 illnesses. The least-fit tercile of players did not report more health problems (mean, 3.0; 95% CI, 2.2-3.8) compared with the most-fit (mean, 3.4; 95% CI, 2.6-4.2) or the medium-fit (mean, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.9-3.5) players. The most-fit players reported more substantial health problems (mean, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.6-2.5) compared with the medium-fit (mean, 1.3; 95% CI, 0.8 -1.8) and least-fit (mean, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.3-2.3) (P = .02) players. There was no association between low physical fitness and number of health problems when comparing the least-fit tercile of the players with the rest of the cohort (P > .05); however, there was an association between low physical fitness and greater severity of all health problems when comparing the least-fit tercile of players to the rest of the cohort after adjusting for time on ice per game, playing position, and age (P = .02).

Conclusion: Low physical fitness was not associated with increased rate of injury or illness but was associated with greater severity of all health problems after adjusting for time on ice per game, playing position, and age.

Keywords: athlete fitness; elite performance; ice hockey; injury prevention; overuse injuries; sporting injuries.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

One or more of the authors has declared the following potential conflict of interest or source of funding: Financial support was received from the Sykehuset Innlandet Hospital Trust and Stiftelsen fondet til fremme av idrettsmedisin og idrettsfysioterapi. AOSSM checks author disclosures against the Open Payments Database (OPD). AOSSM has not conducted an independent investigation on the OPD and disclaims any liability or responsibility relating thereto.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
(A) Countermovement jump. Fast bend in the knees until the angle was about 90° and then a jump straight upward; 1 jump as high as possible. (B) Brutal bench. Valid repetitions required elbows to be in contact with the knees at every lift and the buttocks to be in contact with the surface at all time. (C) Chin-ups. Pronated grip with the chin elevated above the rod in every lift and the arms fully extended between every repetition. (D) Box jump. Side-to-side jumps within 90 seconds. Every landing on the bench counted as a jump.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Arnason A, Sigurdsson SB, Gudmundsson A, Holme I, Engebretsen L, Bahr R. Risk factors for injuries in football. Am J Sports Med. 2004;32(1 suppl):5–16. - PubMed
    1. Bahr R. Why screening tests to predict injury do not work-and probably never will…: a critical review. Br J Sports Med. 2016;50(13):776–780. - PubMed
    1. Bardenett SM, Micca JJ, DeNoyelles JT, Miller SD, Jenk DT, Brooks GS. Functional movement screen normative values and validity in high school athletes: can the FMS™ be used as a predictor of injury? Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2015;10(3):303–308. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chalmers S, Debenedictis TA, Zacharia A, et al. Asymmetry during functional movement screening and injury risk in junior football players: a replication study. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2018;28(3):1281–1287. - PubMed
    1. Chalmers S, Magarey ME, Esterman A, Speechley M, Scase E, Heynen M. The relationship between pre-season fitness testing and injury in elite junior Australian football players. J Sci Med Sport. 2013;16(4):307–311. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources