Summary
There has been an increase in the number of concussions sustained by players in the
National Hockey League (NHL). While wearing a helmet is now required by the NHL, the
face visor remains optional. It is unknown to what degree face visors influence concussion,
other head injury and eye-injury rates at the professional level. Data from the 2001–2002
NHL season were examined. It was found that wearing a face visor did not significantly
influence the prevalence of concussion. Visor protection did, however, minimise eye-injuries
and other, non-concussion head injuries. These data suggest that, while a visor may
prevent some head and eye-injuries, other measures may be necessary to reduce the
number of concussions.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 22,
2006
Identification
Copyright
© 2006 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
