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014 Head impact doses and ‘no-go’ deficits in olympic and non-olympic sport athletes
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  1. Adam Bartsch1,
  2. Lori Glover2,
  3. Jay Alberts3,
  4. Jason Cruickshank3,
  5. Elizabeth Jansen3,
  6. Edward Benzel3,
  7. Sergey Samorezov3,
  8. Vincent Miele4,
  9. Julian Bailes5,
  10. Gerald McGinty6,
  11. Steven Rowson9,
  12. Christopher D’Lauro6,
  13. Tyler Rooks8,
  14. Kenneth Cameron7,
  15. Megan Houston7,
  16. Emily Kieffer9,
  17. Laurel Ng10,
  18. Kiran Mathews10,
  19. Mikael Swaren14,
  20. Norman Link11,
  21. Missy Fraser15,
  22. Jason P Mihalik12,
  23. Johna Mihalik-Register12,
  24. JT Eckner13,
  25. Annalise Lane13
  1. 1Prevent Biometrics, Minneapolis, USA
  2. 2Fairview Sports Medicine, Minneapolis, USA
  3. 3Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, USA
  4. 4University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, USA
  5. 5NorthShore University Health System, Chicago, USA
  6. 6USA Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, USA
  7. 7USA Military Academy, West Point, USA
  8. 8USA Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory, Fort Rucker, USA
  9. 9Virginia Polytechnic University, Blacksburg, USA
  10. 10L3 Harris, San Diego, USA
  11. 11University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
  12. 12University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA
  13. 13University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
  14. 14Swedish Olympic Academy, Stockholm, Sweden
  15. 15Texas State University, Frisco, USA

Abstract

Background The relationship between head impact dose and observable functional deficits remains unclear. While studies have almost exclusively examined American football athletes, in Olympic athletes there are almost no data that explore this relationship.

Objective We aimed to use an impact monitoring mouthguard (IMM) to quantify head impact doses in Olympic and non-Olympic Sports, identifying high-energy impacts on video as ‘No-go’ per the NFL protocol.

Design Retrospective meta-analysis from American football, basketball, boxing, ice hockey, karate, lacrosse, mixed martial arts, rugby, tae-kwon-do, soccer.

Setting Sporting field

Patients (or Participants) 4500 impacts over 800 player-games.

Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors) Impact doses where the athlete was observed as ‘no-go’.

Main Outcome Measurements Kinetic energy transfer (KE), risk-weighted exposure (RWE), peak scalar linear acceleration (PLA), peak scalar linear velocity (PLV), peak scalar angular acceleration (PAA), peak scalar angular velocity (PAV), impact location, impact direction, ‘No-go’ status.

Results The median KE, RWE, PLA, PAA, PLV and PAV was 5 J, 0.0002, 20 g, 1500 rad/s2, 10 rad/s and 1.5 m/s, respectively. American football athletes sustained the highest energy impact doses, boxers and mixed-martial artists sustained the highest cumulative dose for a day of competition. Ice hockey had the highest rate of ‘no-go’ impacts versus total impacts collected. Karate had the highest rotational kinematics. Of the nine (9) highest energy impacts to the side and rear of the head, all were ‘no-go’ impacts. Of the top eight (8) highest energy impacts to the front of the head, none were ‘no-go’ impacts.

Conclusions ‘No-go’ observations occurred in high energy impact doses to the rear and the sides of the head, while similar impact doses to the forehead seemed tolerable. Prospective Olympic athlete impact monitoring could help identify risky exposures.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2021-IOC.13

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