title: Injury incidence in a men's elite bandy league: an epidemiological study of a full regular season.
abstract: Bandy is a popular European winter team-sport. The best bandy teams participate in semi-professional leagues, where the play-off games attract more than 10,000 spectators. Injury patterns in elite bandy have not been investigated previously. The aim of this study is to examine the incidence and types of injuries sustained during elite bandy games for men. Twelve of the 16 teams in the Swedish elite bandy league during the 2002 season participated in the study. In total, 36 injuries were recorded, corresponding to 7.3 injuries/1000 player game hours and 5.7 injuries/1000 athlete exposures. Collision was the most common injury cause (47%), while contusion was the most common injury type (25%), followed by fracture (22%) and ligament rupture (19%). The study showed that the injury incidence in elite bandy is low, but also that the injuries that are still sustained are relatively severe. This pattern can be explained by the fact that even though bandy rules do not allow body checks, collisions between skaters moving at high speeds still cause the majority of injuries. Further studies of the injury rehabilitation practices, and the implementation and evaluation of safety programs in elite bandy are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. tti@ida.liu.se
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Timpka
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Risto
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Borg
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Johansson
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D006688:Hockey / Q000293:injuries*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013177:Sports; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology