Each year, almost 67,000 hockey-related injuries to youths under age 15 are treated in hospitals, doctors' offices, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and hospital emergency rooms. Includes medical, legal and liability, work loss and pain and suffering costs. Ice hockey involves a significant risk of injury for players of all ages.
Ice hockey is the second leading cause of winter sports injury among children.
Lower extremity injuries account for about one-third of the injuries. Cases of paralysis and death resulting from head and spinal cord injuries have been reported, but such catastrophic injuries are rare. Body checking is the most common cause of injuries and is also associated with the more severe injuries. Many of the players injured by body checking are hurt as a result of collisions with goal posts or the boards. Contact between opponents, usually in the form of body checking, is associated with 46 percent of all minor injuries and 75 percent of major injuries.