Professional ice hockey players encounter abnormally high incidences of lower back injuries such as lumbar disc herniation. According to medical researcher and physician Michael Gaudiani, such injuries regularly affect players’ performance, financial earnings, and more.
Resident physician Dr. Gaudiani is highly regarded for his prolific medical research. His work forms the basis of numerous peer-reviewed studies on topics including breakthroughs in patient care protocols. The physician also boasts a successful athletic background, wherein his dedication and discipline translate seamlessly into his work.
A recent study published in the Global Spine Journal examines NHL players who have sustained lumbar disc herniation. The journal is the official scientific publication of AO Spine, the leading global academic community for innovative spine care education and research. The study explores player performance between one and three seasons pre- and post-injury.
Positively, Dr. Gaudiani reports that the findings reveal how around 80 percent of NHL players who sustained lumbar disc herniation returned to play. However, these players invariably had shorter careers overall. They also demonstrated decreased post-injury performance outcomes versus their peers up to three seasons later.
Lower Back Injuries in Hockey Players
Ice hockey is a fast-paced, high-collision sport, placing all players at a significantly elevated risk of sustaining spinal injuries. Dr. Michael Gaudiani states such injuries can devastate players’ long-term health and professional performance.
The aggressive nature of ice hockey—including body checks at high speeds—also means that players are at a further heightened risk of specific back injuries compared to almost all other athletes. Furthermore, despite interventions within the sport to help prevent spinal injuries, occurrences of lower back problems like lumbar disc herniation remain common.
Such injuries have a major bearing on everything from career longevity and performance to financial productivity for players and teams alike. The recent retrospective cohort study published in the Global Spine Journal reveals that lumbar spine injuries like disc herniation comprise approximately 13 percent of all recorded NHL player injuries.
That compares to just 1-3 percent among patients in the general population.
Lumbar Disc Herniation Study
The recent cohort study surrounding lower back injuries, including lumbar disc herniation, published in the Global Spine Journal sought primarily to determine the direct impact of such occurrences on National Hockey League players’ overall performance and financial earnings.
The study retrospectively reviewed hundreds of players’ performances and game usage. It divided players into three groups based on their adjusted index season salaries.
Researcher and physician Dr. Gaudiani reports that the National Hockey League’s overall return to play rate after lower back injuries was 79 percent. Yet players enduring lumbar disc herniation, in particular, had fewer seasons played throughout their careers than those who did not succumb to the same injury.
Moreover, in the season immediately following their injuries, players with lumbar disc herniation scored markedly fewer goals compared to their own pre-injury performances. Three seasons later, the same group further exhibited a significant decline in their time on the ice per game, resulting in further knock-on effects on their earnings.
So, despite a relatively high rate of return to play, the cohort study published in the Global Spine Journal suggests that lower back injuries such as lumbar disc herniation, endured by National Hockey League players, still have an enduring impact on career longevity, game use, performance, and financial outcomes alike.
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