The purpose of this research was to conduct reconstructions of concussive and non-concussive impacts in ice hockey to determine the biomechanics and thresholds of concussive injury in ice hockey. Videos of concussive and non-concussive impacts in an elite professional ice hockey league in North America were reconstructed using physical and finite element model methods. Eighty concussive and 45 non-concussive events were studied. Logistic regressions indicate significant thresholds for concussion for linear/rotational acceleration and CSDM10%. Impacts in ice hockey were mostly long duration events, longer than 15 ms. These results have significant implications for helmet standards and development to prevent concussion.
Keywords: Ice hockey; biomechanics; concussion; helmet.