Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
J Neurotrauma. 2021 May 15;38(10):1389-1398. doi: 10.1089/neu.2020.7224. Epub 2021 Mar 1.
With the concern of concussion risk and repetitive head impacts in youth football, organizations have adopted rules that limit contact during practice. However, rule changes are not ubiquitous among organizations and are challenging to monitor and enforce. Ultimately, football practice activities are determined by coaches, but it is unknown whether providing objective data to coaches relating activities to their athletes' head impact exposure (HIE) would alter practice structure or help reduce HIE. This study evaluated the effect of coach awareness of HIE on practice structure over time. Head impact data from three intervention (56 players) and three control (38 players) teams were collected over two youth football seasons. Athletes were instrumented with the Head Impact Telemetry (HIT) System and time-synchronized video was recorded for practices and games. Impact frequencies and head accelerations were compiled into weekly HIE practice and game reports and shared with the head coach of each intervention team. Time per drill, impact rate, and impact magnitude were compared across three time frames (pre-season, mid-season, and late-season) using generalized linear models. Control teams had higher impact rates than intervention teams in all drills across time frames. Among all teams, 95th percentile linear and rotational accelerations were highest during mid-season. Among intervention teams, more time was spent on scrimmage and skill development from pre-season to late-season, with less time spent on tackling. This study suggests that receiving objective data informing HIE in practice may contribute to changes in practice structure and help inform intervention efforts to improve head impact safety in football.
随着对青少年足球中脑震荡风险和重复性头部冲击的关注，各组织已经通过了限制练习中接触的规则。然而，并非所有组织都普遍采用规则变更，而且这些规则的监测和执行也具有挑战性。最终，足球练习活动由教练决定，但尚不清楚向教练提供与运动员头部冲击暴露（HIE）相关的活动的客观数据是否会改变练习结构或有助于减少 HIE。本研究评估了教练对 HIE 的认识随时间变化对练习结构的影响。在两个青少年足球赛季中，收集了来自三个干预（56 名球员）和三个对照组（38 名球员）球队的头部冲击数据。运动员使用 Head Impact Telemetry（HIT）系统进行了仪器化，同时还记录了练习和比赛的时间同步视频。每周将冲击频率和头部加速度汇总到 HIE 练习和比赛报告中，并与每个干预组的首席教练分享。使用广义线性模型比较了三个时间段（赛季前、赛季中和赛季末）的每个练习的时间、冲击率和冲击幅度。在所有时间段内，对照组的所有练习的冲击率均高于干预组。在所有球队中，线性和旋转加速度的 95 百分位在赛季中最高。在干预组中，从赛季前到赛季末，用于混战和技能发展的时间增加，而用于擒抱的时间减少。本研究表明，在实践中获得关于 HIE 的客观数据可能有助于改变练习结构，并有助于为改善足球中的头部冲击安全提供干预措施。
