Sports Health: Hockey

Playing hockey is a great way to improve cardiovascular health, muscle strength and coordination. Because it's a contact sport, there are many different hockey injuries including lacerations, concussions, meniscus tears and ACL tears. While you can't prevent all hockey injuries, wearing the right equipment such as a helmet, gloves, knee pads and a mouth guard can reduce the risk.

ACL strains or tears. Broken collarbone. Concussions. MCL strains or tears. Muscle strains.

• AC joint (shoulder)
• ACL strains or tears.
• Broken collarbone.
• Concussions.
• MCL strains or tears.
• Muscle strains.
• Shoulder dislocation.

If you are looking for information on common hockey injuries and treatment options, you may want to consider the following specialists:

Physiotherapy is treatment to restore, maintain, and make the most of a patient's mobility, function, and well-being. Physiotherapy helps through physical rehabilitation of muscles and tendons and joints, injury prevention, and health and fitness. Physiotherapists are also great at getting you involved in your own recovery, often assigning you specialized exercises to do daily at home.

Chiropractors can treat back pain, neck pain, arthritis, headaches, physical injuries and more. They are spine, muscle and nervous system experts who specialize in assessing injuries and pain, diagnosing, treating and developing care plans to keep you moving.

Massage therapists assess and treat soft tissues and joints of the body. Their work helps improve and maintain good health and treat pain from injuries and physical disorders.  Massage therapy can promote blood flow to muscles that are fatigued or that have suffered an injury.