Essendon Football Club, Australia; Epworth Sports and Exercise Medicine Group, Australia.
Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Australia; Neurosurgery Department, Austin and Cabrini Hospitals, Australia.
J Sci Med Sport. 2024 Apr;27(4):214-219. doi: 10.1016/j.jsams.2023.12.003. Epub 2023 Dec 15.
To investigate the incidence and the game circumstances of concussion in the professional female (AFLW) and male (AFL) competitions of Australian Football, to identify potential targets for risk reduction.
Retrospective cohort.
Concussion data were obtained from the AFL injury database, which included all concussions sustained by AFL (Male) players from 2015 to 18 and AFLW (Female) players from 2017 to 19. Concussions were diagnosed by experienced clinicians utilising standardised concussion assessment tools and injury definitions, as well as video review. Video footage was analysed to determine the circumstances each concussion occurred, which included the action and the contact-point of impact.
The incidence of concussion was higher in the AFLW (Female) compared to the AFL (Male) (IRR = 2.12, 95 %CI 1.54 to 2.92). Video footage was available for 194/252 (77 %) concussions in the AFL and 35/44 (80 %) concussions in the AFLW. Male players were most frequently concussed during marking contests (28 %) with primary impact from the upper limb (22 %) or the shoulder (19 %). Conversely, being bumped (23 %) or tackled (20 %) were the main actions associated with concussion in female players, with the head (29 %) or the ground (23 %) the most common contact-points of impact.
In elite Australian Football a higher incidence of concussion was demonstrated in female compared to male players. The mechanisms associated with concussion were also found to differ between male and female competitions, suggesting that different injury prevention interventions may be beneficial. In particular, a review of tackling and bumping skills training and education in the AFLW may reduce the risk of concussion.
调查澳大利亚足球职业女子（AFLW）和男子（AFL）比赛中脑震荡的发生率和比赛情况，确定降低风险的潜在目标。
回顾性队列研究。
脑震荡数据来自 AFL 损伤数据库，其中包括 2015 年至 2018 年 AFL（男子）球员和 2017 年至 2019 年 AFLW（女子）球员所遭受的所有脑震荡。脑震荡由经验丰富的临床医生利用标准的脑震荡评估工具和损伤定义以及视频回顾进行诊断。分析视频片段以确定每次脑震荡发生的情况，包括动作和撞击点。
AFLW（女子）的脑震荡发生率高于 AFL（男子）（IRR=2.12，95%CI 1.54 至 2.92）。AFL 中有 194/252（77%）的脑震荡和 AFLW 中有 35/44（80%）的脑震荡有视频片段。男性球员在标记比赛中最常发生脑震荡（28%），主要来自上肢（22%）或肩部（19%）的撞击。相比之下，女性球员中最常见的脑震荡相关动作是被碰撞（23%）或被擒抱（20%），头部（29%）或地面（23%）是最常见的撞击点。
在精英澳大利亚足球中，女性球员的脑震荡发生率高于男性球员。脑震荡的机制在男女比赛中也有所不同，这表明不同的损伤预防干预措施可能是有益的。特别是，对 AFLW 中的擒抱和碰撞技巧培训和教育进行审查可能会降低脑震荡的风险。
