Laboratory-Based Comparison of Ice Hockey Helmet Performance Using Sex-Representatives Headform sizes

Purpose: Concussion is a prevalent injury in contact sports such as ice hockey and is associated with long-term neurodegenerative conditions. As most studies have historically focused on men, the growing popularity of women’s hockey has highlighted a significant gap in concussion research. Research involving female athletes have revealed notable differences in head impact exposure and concussion incidence. Although ice hockey helmets are designed to mitigate head injuries, current certification standards are based on male morphology, raising uncertainty about their effectiveness for female athletes. Methods: This study evaluated the performance of the CCM FitLite 90 helmet using male and female Hybrid III anthropomorphic headforms. Both headforms, helmeted and unhelmeted, were impacted at three locations (front, side, and back) across five velocities. Peak linear (PLA) and rotational (PRA) accelerations were recorded, and percentage reductions in PLA and PRA between helmeted and unhelmeted conditions were calculated. All data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) to account for repeated measures and variability across impact locations and velocities. Results: Significant differences were observed in PLA and PRA between headforms at the back and front locations. While velocity effects were similar across headforms at most locations, headform size significantly influenced PRA for back and frontal impacts. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the helmet provides comparable PLA and PRA reduction for both headforms except for the back location and the PRA front location. Back location appears more sensitive to external factors such as differences in head geometry, mass distribution and moment of inertia between male and female anthropometric heads.