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High school, college football players sustain comparable head impact forces
Research conducted at the University of Oklahoma involved modified helmets that measured the force of impact.
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HERSHEY, Pa. — Contrary to previous theories, high school football players are experiencing almost the same level of head impacts as college players, according to research presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine 2006 Annual Meeting.
Researchers at the University of Oklahoma said they used standard football helmets fitted with special accelerometer pads to measure the impact inside the helmets of players at the university and at Casady High School in Oklahoma City.
During the 2005 football season, Brock E. Schnebel, MD, and his colleagues collected practice and game impact data from the football helmets. The information was stored in a microchip in the helmet. The same information, Schnebel said, can also be sent to a beeper carried by the trainer or team physician on the sideline.
Schnebel and colleagues compared data from more than 62,000 recorded impacts and discovered that the college football players incurred “concussion-level” hits or impacts more frequently than their high school counterparts. Impact accelerations were also higher for the college players.
However, “We found that about 1% of the college level hits is above a concussion threshold,” Schnebel said. “At the high school level, about 0.7% of impacts is above a concussion threshold. The kinds of hits high school players take are almost at the same level as college players.
“High school athletes need to be monitored as closely as we are monitoring college players,” he said.
Schnebel said there has been very little research conducted on football head impact severity or the incidence of such impacts. He and his colleagues hope the research leads to a better understanding of how to protect the brain, which may influence return-to-play decisions and helmet design.
For more information:
- Schnebel BE, Anderson S, Becerra D, Gatlin R. In vivo study of head impacts in football: Comparison of NCAA Division I vs. high school impacts. Presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine 2006 Annual Meeting. June 19-July 2, 2006, Hershey, Pa.