How evidence based policy can drive meaningful change

Researchers from the University of Calgary published a paper in 2015 titled Policy change eliminating body checking in non-elite ice hockey leads to a threefold reduction in injury and concussion risk in 11 and 12 year old players in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

This paper has been cited 97 times across seven categories, with nearly 19% of those citations occurring within two years. Compared to other publications in the same field of Sports Science, this paper is exceptionally well cited, receiving about 14 times more citations than average.

Highly influential, the paper led to the policy change banning body checking in non elite ice hockey for 11 and 12 year olds and resulted in a threefold reduction in injury and concussion risk.*

Impact at a glance *

  • 97 citations – 19% of its citations have been received in the past two years

  • 45 Altmetric Attention score – sits within the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric

  • 2,000+ online views and 1,000+ article downloads

The paper on policy change in ice hockey exemplifies how evidence based research can drive meaningful change. It highlights the powerful role that well placed evidence can play in shaping effective, real-world policies and improving athlete safety.

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