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Sport-related concussions, which can result in long-lasting adverse cognitive and behavioural effects in athletes, have gained the attention of the research community since an estimated 200,000 concussions are reported in Canada each year. While concussions occur in many sports, most of the research on the mechanisms of concussive impacts has focused on football, despite double the concussion rate in hockey. Concussions in youth athletes often result in more detrimental physiological consequences compared to adults, but most research has been conducted in professional sport. With approximately half a million players registering in minor league hockey in Canada every year, concussion awareness and prevention in this susceptible population is therefore imperative to reducing health concerns. Consequently, our proposed study aims to fill this gap within the existing literature by examining head impacts in youth hockey. We will utilize a multi-camera video system to record youth hockey games at local rinks in Windsor-Essex County. From the video records, the following measures related to head impacts that occur during play will be quantified: impact type, frequency, and location; player anticipation based on body position prior to impact, and; head velocities and impact severities. Once described and quantified, these data will provide a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in head impacts in youth hockey. It is also expected that our results will help to inform the development of interventions that reduce head injury rates, including concussions, through concussion education, training in bodychecking anticipation, and possible rule changes that limit head impact potential.

Hypertension (HTN), or high blood pressure (BP), is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease-related death and disability worldwide (1). Deemed a global epidemic by the World Health Organization (2-6), HTN is the most commonly diagnosed chronic condition in primary care (7-9). BP control is inadequate world-wide, with more than half of patients not treated to within clinical target ranges (10). Thus, there is an urgent need to implement effective therapies that adequately lower and maintain BP. Newly incorporated into the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of High Blood Pressure (11), isometric handgrip (IHG) training is one such therapy (four, 2-min sustained squeezes at 30% of maximal effort, separated by 1-min rest, performed 3X/week on a computerized handgrip dynamometer). The high costs associated with the computerized devices (upwards of ~$400 CAD) may impede the main stream utilization of IHG training for BP management. As a first step in determining the effectiveness of an inexpensive (mechanical, ~$10 CAD) device to lower BP, this study compared systolic and diastolic BP responses to an acute bout of IHG performed using the mechanical and computerized devices. Young, healthy adults (N=12; 5 women; resting BP: 114/65 mmHg) randomly performed a bout of IHG on each device, with a 30-minute resting period between protocols. BP was acquired every minute using the Dinamap ProCare 200 BP Monitor. Across all contractions, the peak systolic BP response was similar between devices (all P > 0.05). With the exception of the 2nd contraction eliciting a higher BP response in the mechanical device (P = 0.013), diastolic BP changes were also similar (all P > 0.05). These findings suggest that more affordable devices may be an acceptable, low-cost alternative to the computerized IHG device, and that groundwork has been laid for a future training study. 1. Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization. (2013). World health day: In the Americas, one in three adults has hypertension, the leading risk factor for death from cardiovascular disease. Retrieved from: http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8466&Itemid=1926&lang=en 2. World Health Organization. (2013). A global brief on hypertension: Silent killer, global public health crisis. Retrieved from: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/79059/1/WHO_DCO_WHD_2013.2_eng.pdf?ua=1 3. Joffres, M., Falaschetti, E., Gillespie, C., Robitaille, C., Loustalot, F., Poulter, N., … Campbell, N. (2013). Hypertension prevalence, awareness, treatment and control in national surveys from England, the USA and Canada, and correlation with stroke and ischaemic heart disease mortality: A cross-sectional study. British Medical Journal, 3(8). doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003423. 4. Danaei, G., Ding, E., Mozaffarian, D., Taylor, B., Rehm, J., Murray, C., & Ezzati, M. (2011). The preventable causes of death in the United States: Comparative risk assessment of dietary, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors. Public Library of Science Medicine, 8(1). doi:10.1371/annotation/0ef47acd-9dcc-4296-a897-872d182cde57. 5. Benjamin, E., Blaha, M., Chiuve, S., Cushman, M., Das, S., Deo, R., … Muntner, P. (2017). Heart disease and stroke statistics – 2017 update: A report from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 135(10). doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000485. 6. Ezzati, M., Lopez, A., Rodgers, A., Vander Hoorn, S., & Murray, C. (2002). Selected major risk factors and global and regional burden of disease. The Lancet, 360(9343). doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(02)11403-6. 7. Hemmelgarn, B., Chen, G., Walker, R., McAlister, F., Quan, H., Tu, K., … Campbell, N. (2008). Trends in antihypertensive drug prescriptions and physician visits in Canada between 1996 and 2006. The Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 24(6). 8. James, P., Oparil, S., Cushman, W., Dennison-Himmelfarb, C., Handler, J., Lackland, D., … Ortiz, E. (2014). 2014 Evidence-based guideline for the management of high blood pressure in adults: Report from the panel members appointed to the Eighth Joint National Committee (JNC 8). The Journal of the American Medical Association, 311(5). doi:10.1001/jama.2013.284427. 9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). National ambulatory medical care survey: 2013 State and national summary tables. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ahcd/namcs_summary/2013_namcs_web_tables.pdf 10. Go, A., Bauman, M., Coleman King, S., Fonarow, G., Lawrence, W., Williams, K., & Sanchez, E. (2014). An effective approach to high blood pressure control: A science advisory from the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hypertension, 63. doi:org/10.1161/HYP.0000000000000003. 11. Whelton, P., Carey, R., Aronow, W., Casey, D., Collins, K., Dennison Himmelfarb, C., … Wright, J. (2017). 2017 Guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association task force on clinical practice guidelines. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2017.07.745.