Association of Training and Game Loads to Injury Risk in Junior Male Elite Ice Hockey Players: A Prospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Training and game loads are potential risk factors of injury in junior elite ice hockey, but the association of training and game loads to injuries is unknown. PURPOSE: To investigate the association of chronic training and game loads to injury risk in junior male elite ice hockey players. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, we monitored all health problems among 159 male junior ice hockey players (mean age, 16 years; range, 15-19 years) at sports-specific high schools during the 2018-2019 school year. Players reported their health problems every week using the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Overuse Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC-H2). The number of training sessions and games was reported for 33 weeks. We calculated the previous 2-week difference in training/game loads as well as the cumulative training/game loads of the previous 2, 3, 4, and 6 weeks and explored potential associations between training/game loads and injury risk using mixed-effects logistic regression. RESULTS: The players reported 133 acute injuries, 75 overuse injuries, and 162 illnesses in total, and an average of 8.8 (SD ±3.9) training sessions and 0.9 (SD ± 1.1) games per week. We found no association between the difference of the two previous weeks or the previous 2- 3- and 4-week cumulative, training or game load and acute injuries, nor the difference of the two previous weeks, or the previous 4- and 6-week cumulative, training or game load and overuse injuries (OR, ∼1.0; P > .05 in all models). CONCLUSION: In the current study of junior elite ice hockey players, there was no evidence of an association between cumulative exposure to training/game loads and injury risk.