Ice hockey facial protectors are essential to prevent eye and dental injuries but must also not encumber vision and, in turn, players' performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of three different facial protection conditions on response time (RsT) and kinematics in a goal directed pointing task: helmet (control), visor, and cage. A 13 light target array and six-camera Vicon Mx system were used to collect response time and kinematic data. Subjects recruited were 16 male and 12 female varsity ice hockey players (n=28). Results demonstrated that although kinematics remained largely unaffected, throughout the visual field test RsT increased significantly with the cage (23 ms) as well as delayed head movement for both the visor (14 ms) and cage (18 ms). These differences may well represent a functional disadvantage to a player's performance given the dynamic, open environment where multiple players contest for puck possession. In summary, further research is warranted to achieve both optimal performance and safety.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.111600 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Dowler, Patrick McLean, 1983- |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 003163647, proquestno: AAIMR66903, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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