| Description |
In collegiate ice hockey, hip injuries account for an estimated 9% of all injuries occurring over the course of a hockey season. Most of these injuries can be labeled in the avoidable, overuse category. Still, far too little is known about why injuries such as femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and other hip pathologies occur at such a high rate in hockey. Many studies have revealed the alarming prevalence rate of hip morphology occurring in hockey players of all ages, but it is still unknown what traits specific to hockey are causing these pathologies to occur. We hypothesized that hip pain would be correlated with anterior pelvic tilt, age of sport specialization, and the number of years an athlete has been skating. Our methodology included assessing pelvic tilt in 54 male collegiate ice hockey players at three institutions. Measurements included those in the trigonometric equation; landmarks of posterior superior iliac spine to the ground, anterior superior iliac spine to the ground, and from posterior superior iliac spine to the anterior superior iliac spine to calculate pelvic tilt in degrees. The participants then completed a demographic and hip pain questionnaire using Qualtrics™ software. A block regression analysis revealed anterior pelvic tilt (p = .014), handedness (p = .034), and years skating (p = .016) contributed to the model with presence of hip pain. Anterior pelvic tilt and handedness also showed to be strongly related to on another (p = .01) in an independent t test. This study has created a starting point for future studies to investigate further the causative factors of hip pain in ice hockey players. The study findings identified anterior pelvic tilt with associated handedness, and the number of years a player has been skating as the leading factors in the causes of hip pain in hockey players. Using this information, the development of improved programs for off the ice strengthening can be designed to fit the needs of each athlete based on handedness and pelvic tilt. Furthermore, we can develop future studies to better understand the traits that are causing hip pain in ice hockey players. |
