ZURICH – Injuries at the Olympic ice hockey tournaments decreased in Vancouver 2010 according to the 2009-2010 IIHF Injury Reporting System Analysis.

The system was introduced in 1998 to compare trends in various injury statistics and collect information to make ice hockey safer and to compare IIHF events with other leagues and sports.

The injury rate is used as a basis for calculating the risk of injury and gives the number of injuries calculated per 1,000 games.

The injury rate in the Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament this year in Vancouver went down by 53% from 47 to 22 in comparison to Turin 2006. In the women’s ice hockey tournament the injury rate decreased by 31% from 16 to 11.

The numbers, compared to 2009, also went down in the World Championship program in the men’s category (33=>28), the U20 category (31=>30) and the U18 category (22=>20).

The rate also went down in the women’s category from 16 in the 2009 World Women’s Championship to 11 in the 2010 Olympic women’s ice hockey tournament. (No World Women’s Championship is played in Olympic years.)

The majority of injuries, 71%, occurred away from the boards – a number that has been constant in the last eleven years. 49% of the injured players returned to play within one week and 87% within three weeks. Only 8% of the injuries happened in practice – a relatively low number among Olympic winter sports.

Click here for the 2009-2010 IIHF Injury Reporting System Analysis
Click here for the Medical Section on IIHF.com