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Player-on-player contact leads to greater head impact magnitude in high school football players
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Rule or coaching changes to reduce head impact in player-to-player contact should be implemented to prevent greater head impact magnitude in high school football, according to study findings published in Pediatrics.
Julianne D. Schmidt
“There is particular concern about youth and adolescent athletes, who sustain concussions at higher rates but have less access to medical care,” Julianne D. Schmidt, PhD, ATC, assistant professor in the department of kinesiology at University of Georgia, and colleagues wrote. “Greater understanding of which aspects of the game result in higher-magnitude head impacts may usefully inform rule changes, coaching technique changes and athlete preparation.”
Previous studies that reconstructed helmet-to-helmet impacts have shown that National Football League players who are struck experience a mean 98 g of linear head acceleration compared with the striking players who experience a mean 59 g of linear head acceleration, Schmidt and colleagues wrote.
To determine the magnitude of head impact between multiple play types, the researchers conducted a comparison study that included 32 American high school football players who wore Head Impact Telemetry (HIT) System instrumented helmets to assess for linear acceleration, rotational acceleration and Head Impact Technology severity profile (HITsp). The researchers reviewed video captures from 13 games (n = 3,888 viewable head impacts) to differentiate between quarter in game, cause of impact, play type, closing distance, double head impact, player’s stance, player’s action, direction of gaze, athletic readiness, level of anticipation, player stationary, ball possession, receiving ball and snapping ball.
The video results showed significantly greater head impact magnitude in players who made contact with another player than head impacts caused by other objects or surfaces for linear acceleration (linear, rotational, HITsp: P < .001). In addition, players who made head impacts during the second quarter experienced the most impact magnitude than in the other quarters (HITsp: P = .03). Also resulting in player impact magnitude were players impacting at longer closing distances, in particular including when the 3-point stance or being struck in the head (linear P = .03); the 2-point stance (linear, rotational, HITsp: P < .001) and when offensive linemen did not snap the ball (rotational: P = .02; HITsp: P = .02).
However, recent study findings separate from the researchers’ study indicate that the HIT System may overestimate magnitude in head impact circumstances.
“Head impact magnitude may be overestimated in this study, which should be considered when interpreting the results of this study,” Schmidt and colleagues wrote. “Future studies should examine head impact frequency and location, because magnitude alone does not capture all elements of head trauma.” – by Kate Sherrer
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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