Conditional recommendations are made supporting preventive interventions concussion education and rules prohibiting high-risk activity for both pediatric and adult amateur athletes and neck strengthening exercise in adult amateur athletes .
Strong recommendations are supported for head protective equipment in both pediatric and adult amateur athletes .
Strong recommendations regarding newer football helmet technology in adult amateur athletes and rules governing the implementation of body-checking in youth ice hockey are supported .
Background Awareness of the magnitude of contact sports-related concussions has risen exponentially in recent years .
Our objective is to conduct a prospect ively registered systematic review of the scientific evidence regarding interventions to prevent contact sports-related concussions .
Does fair play reduce concussions? A prospective, comparative analysis of competitive youth hockey tournaments
Background / aim To determine if Boys Bantam and Peewee and Girls U14 sustain fewer concussions , head hits , ‘ other injuries ’ and penalties in hockey tournaments governed by intensified fair play ( IFP ) than non-intensified fair play ( NIFP ) . Methods A prospect i ve comparison of IFP , a behaviour modification programme that promotes sportsmanship , versus control ( non-intensified , NIFP ) effects on numbers of diagnosed concussions , head hits without diagnosed concussion ( HHWDC ) , ‘ other injuries ’ , number of penalties and fair play points ( FPPs ) .  1514 players , ages 11–14 years , in 6 IFP ( N=950 ) and 5 NIFP ( N=564 ) tournaments were studied . Results Two diagnosed concussions , four HHWDC , and six ‘ other injuries ’ occurred in IFP tournaments compared to one concussion , eight HHWDC and five ‘ other injuries ’ in NIFP . There were significantly fewer HHWDC in IFP than NIFP ( p=0.018 ) . However , diagnosed concussions , ‘ other injuries ’ , penalties and FPPs did not differ significantly between conditions . In IFP , a minority of teams forfeited the majority of FPPs . Most diagnosed concussions , HHWDC , and other injuries occurred to Bantam B players and usually in penalised teams that forfeited their FPPs . Conclusions In response to significant differences in HHWDC between IFP and NIFP tournaments , the following considerations are encouraged : m and atory implementation of fair play in regular season and tournaments , empowering tournament directors to not accept heavily penalised teams , and introducing ‘ no body checking ’ in Bantam
Conditional recommendations are made supporting preventive interventions concussion education and rules prohibiting high-risk activity for both pediatric and adult amateur athletes and neck strengthening exercise in adult amateur athletes .
Strong recommendations are supported for head protective equipment in both pediatric and adult amateur athletes .
Strong recommendations regarding newer football helmet technology in adult amateur athletes and rules governing the implementation of body-checking in youth ice hockey are supported .
Background Awareness of the magnitude of contact sports-related concussions has risen exponentially in recent years .
Our objective is to conduct a prospect ively registered systematic review of the scientific evidence regarding interventions to prevent contact sports-related concussions .