scholarly journals A Qualitative Study of Youth Football Coaches’ Perception of Concussion Safety in American Youth Football and Their Experiences With Implementing Tackling Interventions

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Kelly Sarmiento ◽  
Dana Waltzman ◽  
Kelley Borradaile ◽  
Andrew Hurwitz ◽  
Kara Conroy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Head Injuries ◽  
Young Age ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Head Impacts ◽  
Football Coaches ◽  
Youth Athletes ◽  
Risks And Benefits ◽  
Youth Football ◽  
Tackle Football

Due in part to concern about the potential long-term effects of concussion and repetitive head injuries in football, some programs have implemented tackling interventions. This paper explores youth football coaches’ perception of football safety and their experiences implementing these interventions aimed at athlete safety. Using a qualitative approach, coaches were interviewed by means of a semi-structured protocol that covered: (a) demographics; (b) background and experiences with contact sports; (c) perceived concussion risks and benefits of youth football; (d) experiences with tackling technique; (e) experiences with mouth guard sensors; and (f) personal sources of training related to football safety. Most coaches felt that learning tackling at a young age helped prepare them for their playing later in life and believed that youth should begin playing tackle football at a young age. Coaches were mixed regarding their concerns about the risk for concussion and subconcussive head impacts. Still, most were receptive to changes in rules and policies aimed at making football safer. Findings from this study demonstrate that youth football coaches are important stakeholders to consider when implementing changes to youth football. Understanding coach perceptions and experiences may inform future efforts aimed to educate coaches on rules and policies to make the game safer for youth athletes.

Is Youth Football Safe? An Analysis of Youth Football Head Impact Data

Neurosurgery ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-382
Author(s):  
Robert F Heary ◽  
Neil Majmundar ◽  
Roxanne Nagurka
Keyword(s):  
Monitoring System ◽  
High Intensity ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
School Level ◽  
Head Impacts ◽  
Impact Monitoring ◽  
Youth Football ◽  
Football Team ◽  
Impact Data

Abstract BACKGROUND The issue of whether sports-related head trauma at the youth level can result in long-term sequelae that may negatively impact the participant has been widely debated. OBJECTIVE To investigate head impacts in the Summit Youth Football League equipped with helmets using the Riddell InSite impact monitoring system. The monitoring system allowed for analysis of the number of impacts and severity of impacts by player. METHODS Data were obtained for all 20 members of the youth football team. Impacts were recorded as “low,” “medium,” and “high” intensity. RESULTS All 20 players participated in all practices and games throughout the season. No player suffered a concussion throughout the entire season. There were 817 recorded impacts throughout the season. This was an average of 41 impacts per player over the course of the season and fewer than 4 impacts per player per week. Only one impact registered as “high.” CONCLUSION We demonstrate that there are few head impacts over the course of an entire season at the middle school level. Guardian Caps, safe tackling techniques, and the age of participants may have contributed to the very low number of impacts recorded and the complete lack of injuries. This study only provides data demonstrating that youth football, when Guardian Caps and safe tackling techniques are enforced, does not appear to result in significant head impacts causing immediate head injuries. This study cannot comment on the safety of playing football at the collegiate or professional level.

Are specific players more likely to be involved in high-magnitude head impacts in youth football?

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan A. Gellner ◽  
Eamon T. Campolettano ◽  
Eric P. Smith ◽  
Steven Rowson
Keyword(s):  
Data Driven ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Football Players ◽  
Head Acceleration ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Head Impacts ◽  
Youth Football ◽  
High Magnitude ◽  
The Relationship

OBJECTIVEYouth football attracts approximately 3.5 million participants every year, but concern has recently arisen about the long-term effects of experiencing repetitive head accelerations from a young age due to participation in football. The objective of this study was to quantify total involvement in high-magnitude impacts among individual players in youth football practices. The authors explored the relationship between the total number of high-magnitude accelerations in which players were involved (experienced either by themselves or by other players) during practices and the number of high-magnitude accelerations players experienced.METHODSA local cohort of 94 youth football players (mean age 11.9 ± 1.5, mean body mass 50.3 ± 16.4 kg) from 4 different teams were recruited and outfitted with helmet-mounted accelerometer arrays. The teams were followed for one season each for a total of 128 sessions (practices, games, and scrimmages). All players involved in high-magnitude (greater than 40g) head accelerations were subsequently identified through analysis of practice film.RESULTSPlayers who experienced more high-magnitude accelerations were more likely to be involved in impacts associated with high-magnitude accelerations in other players. A small subset of 6 players (6%) were collectively involved in 230 (53%) high-magnitude impacts during practice, were involved in but did not experience a high-magnitude acceleration 78 times (21% of the 370 one-sided high-magnitude impacts), and experienced 152 (30%) of the 502 high-magnitude accelerations measured. Quarterbacks/running backs/linebackers were involved in the greatest number of high-magnitude impacts in practice and experienced the greatest number of high-magnitude accelerations. Which team a player was on was an important factor, as one team showed much greater head impact exposure than all others.CONCLUSIONSThis study showed that targeting the most impact-prone players for individualized interventions could reduce high-magnitude acceleration exposure for entire teams. These data will help to further quantify elevated head acceleration exposure and enable data-driven interventions that modify exposure for individual players and entire teams.

scholarly journals Prevalence of Concussion in Quidditch

Neurology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (14 Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. S21.1-S21
Author(s):  
Michael Pepper ◽  
Jeff Wayland ◽  
Adam Elwood ◽  
Spencer Walser ◽  
Vi Tran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Head Injury ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
Return To Play ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Basic Care ◽  
Significant Burden ◽  
Traditional Sports ◽  
Repetitive Injury

ObjectiveThe aim of our study is to assess the rate of concussion occurring while engaging in nontraditional sports such as Quidditch, and the effects that injury during a novelty sport may have on concussion detection when compared to more traditional sports.BackgroundConcussions, once dismissed as nonconsequential, are rapidly attracting notice for acute and long-term health effects. Rates of recovery with repeated trauma is known to decrease with each occurrence. In novelty sports, regulation of concussions and proper return-to-play(RTP) protocol are not routinely enforced, resulting in repetitive injury to the detriment of players.Design/MethodsIRB approval was obtained prior to survey distribution to all players associated with Major League Quidditch (MLQ). Responses were recorded and analyzed.Results157 responses were received. 63% were male and 37% female with mean age 22.9. 146 (93%) respondents confirmed or denied quidditch-related head injury. 22 (15%) denied head injury and 124 (85%) indicated hitting their heads while participating in the sport. 19% of respondents indicated >10 head injuries. 67 (54%) reported suspected concussion with an additional 41 (33%) reporting formal diagnosis with at least one concussion. EMS reported 18 injuries at MLQ matches. 5 (27.8%) were preliminarily diagnosed with concussion. 3 had no further treatment, 1 RTP and 1 received basic care. 0 recieved formal neurologic evaluation. Players were also asked about head injuries sustained in non-quidditch activities for comparison. 43 (27%) reported having medically diagnosed concussions outside of quidditch. 53 (34%) reported at least one suspected concussion without formal diagnosis. 24 (15%) answered maybe.ConclusionsOur data supports that concussion is a significant burden in novelty sports such as quidditch. It is vital to recognize that with the rise of nontraditional sports, the prevalence of concussions in younger nontraditional athletes may be underreported and that concussion specialists must be cognizant of both traditional and novelty sports when evaluating long term effects of head trauma.

scholarly journals Do American Youth Football Players Intentionally Use Their Heads for High-Magnitude Impacts?

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (14) ◽  
pp. 3498-3504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaclyn Alois ◽  
Srinidhi Bellamkonda ◽  
Eamon T. Campolettano ◽  
Ryan A. Gellner ◽  
Amaris Genemaras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Head Injuries ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Head Impact ◽  
Level Of Evidence ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Impact Mechanism ◽  
Head Impacts ◽  
Youth Football ◽  
High Magnitude ◽  
The Impact

Background: Concern for head injuries is widespread and has been reported by the media to be the number one cause of decreased participation in football among the American youth population. Identifying player mechanisms associated with intentional, or purposeful, head impacts should provide critical data for rule modifications, educational programs, and equipment design. Purpose: To investigate the frequency of intentional and unintentional head impacts and to examine the player mechanisms associated with intentional high-magnitude head impacts by comparing the impact mechanism distributions among session type, player position, and ball possession. Study Design: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Head impact sensors and video footage of 68 players were used to analyze and classify 1319 high-magnitude impacts recorded over 1 season of youth football. Results: In total, 80% of the high-magnitude head impacts were classified as being caused by intentional use of the head. Head-to-head impact was the primary impact mechanism (n = 868; 82.7%) within the 1050 intentional high-magnitude impacts, with classifiable mechanisms, followed by head-to-body (n = 139; 13.2%), head-to-ground (n = 34; 3.2%), and head-to-equipment (n = 9; 0.9%). Head-to-head impacts also accounted for a greater proportion of impacts during practices (n = 625; 88.9%) than games, for linemen (n = 585; 90.3%) than perimeters and backs, and for ball carriers (n = 72; 79.1%) than tacklers. Conclusion: Overall, the majority of high-magnitude head impacts were intentional and resulted from head-to-head contact. The proportion of head-to-head contact was significantly higher for practices than games, linemen than backs and perimeter players, and ball carriers than tacklers.

scholarly journals Long‐term effects of repetitive head impacts on gray matter cortical thickness

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (S6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bailee Brekke ◽  
Renee DeVivo ◽  
Ann C. McKee ◽  
Thor D. Stein ◽  
Yorghos Tripodis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Gray Matter ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Head Impacts ◽  
Repetitive Head Impacts

scholarly journals Repetitive Head Impacts in Youth Football: Description and Relationship to White Matter Structure

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 507-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt J. Nilsson ◽  
Hilary G. Flint ◽  
Yong Gao ◽  
Leslie Kendrick ◽  
Steve Cutchin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
The Body ◽  
Football Players ◽  
Head Impacts ◽  
Number Magnitude ◽  
Youth Football ◽  
Total Magnitude ◽  
Tackle Football

Background: Few studies have examined white matter with diffusion tensor imaging in 8- to 12-year-old collision sport (CS) athletes. Hypothesis: Youth CS athletes will demonstrate change in brain fractional anisotropy (FA) after a season of CS compared with an age-matched noncollision sport (NCS) cohort, and the number, magnitude, and location of hits will correlate with changes in the brain determined via FA for CS athletes. Study Design: Prospective cohort study. Level of Evidence: Level 3. Methods: Thirty-five 8- to 12-year-old males in a youth tackle football league (CS) and 12 males from local swim teams (NCS) were recruited. Participants underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging with FA before and after the football season. Number, magnitude, and direction of head impacts were recorded for CS participants throughout the season. Results: A total of 1905 hits were recorded in the CS group for the season, 341 (17.9%) collected during 7 games and 1564 (82.1%) observed during 31 practices. No significant interaction between group (CS and NCS) and time (pre- and postseason) was observed for FA ( P > 0.05). Correlation analysis revealed a significantly positive and moderate relationship between increase of left cingulate cortex (CgC) FA from pre- to postseason and the total magnitude of lateral head impacts ( r = 0.40; P = 0.03). Conclusion: There was no significant change in FA measurement of white matter integrity in a cohort of 8- to 12-year-old males after a season of youth football, nor was any difference detected in FA between youth football players and an age-matched cohort of swimmers. There was a significant correlation between total magnitude of hits sustained by youth football players and an increase in FA in the left CgC; whether this is adaptive or pathologic remains unknown. Clinical Relevance: These data can be used within the body of knowledge to counsel patients regarding the known risks of youth tackle football regarding brain health.

Abstract TP115: Cerebral Hemodynamic Changes in Military Personnel With Long-term Effects of Concussions

Stroke ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Razumovsky ◽  
Melissa Rampino ◽  
Efim Kouperberg ◽  
Donna M Neuges ◽  
Thomas J DeGraba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Cerebral Blood Flow ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
Vascular Wall ◽  
Cerebral Hemodynamics ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Luminal Narrowing ◽  
Lumen Narrowing ◽  
Blood Flow Velocities

Service members (SMs) suffer from repeated exposure to concussions or mild TBI, which can disrupt cerebral blood flow. This effect is seen in the acute phase of TBI, but the development of vascular wall abnormalities, which can lead to luminal narrowing and abnormally elevated cerebral blood flow velocities (CBFV), has not been studied in the post concussive phase. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the transcranial Doppler (TCD) determined incidence of abnormal cerebral hemodynamics in patients with long-term effects of mTBI. Material and Methods: TCD recordings of mean CBFV in cm/sec and Pulsatility Indices (PI) were recorded from 431 SMs (9 females; ages 24-54, mean age 39.2 ± 6.4 years) who were admitted to the National Intrepid Center of Excellence 4-week Interdisciplinary Outpatient Program. TCD data were analyzed to determine whether SMs exhibited abnormal CBFV s in the middle cerebral artery, internal carotid artery (ICA), and basilar artery. All subjects consented to protocol #362504 prior to any data collection or analysis. Two standard deviation from the mean CBFV in any direction labeled as an abnormal and PI was assumed normal with values between 0.7 and 0.9 Patients with one or more vessels with abnormal CBFV’s and PI’s were labeled as abnormal. Results: Average time since last TBI was 5.1 ± 3.4 years. We observed abnormal CBFV values in 33% of SMs. 149 (35%) and 48 (11%) demonstrated abnormally high CBFV and PIs in one or more vessels, respectively. Abnormal CBFV was observed most frequently in the ICA (48%). Majority of studied patients had patchy pattern of abnormal data presented in one or few vessels. The presence of abnormal cerebral hemodynamics was inversely related to the time since the last mTBI exposure: the likelihood of abnormal CBFV values deceased with increasing time since last head injury was sustained but was still present. Conclusions: Our data reveal that a large proportion of SMs have elevated CBFVs following mTBI exposure in many years after last mTBI. We believe that head injuries due to combat and training blast and blunt force trauma exposure cause early atherosclerotic or fibrotic changes in the large vessel walls of the Circle of Willis, which results in vascular lumen narrowing and increased CBFV’s.

scholarly journals Calcified cephalohematoma as an unusual cause of EEG anomalies: case report

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Vigo ◽  
Domenica Immacolata Battaglia ◽  
Paolo Frassanito ◽  
Gianpiero Tamburrini ◽  
Massimo Caldarelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Head Injuries ◽  
Surgical Removal ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Indication For Surgery ◽  
Eeg Abnormalities ◽  
Skull Deformity ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Brain

Cephalohematoma, one of the most common neonatal head injuries, generally undergoes spontaneous resorption. When calcified, it may cause cranial vault distortion and depression of the inner skull layer, although it remains asymptomatic. Surgery, indeed, is usually performed for cosmetic purposes. For these reasons, the long-term effects of calcified cephalohematoma (CC) are widely unknown. The authors report the case of an 11-year-old girl with a persistent calcified CC causing skull deformity and delayed electroencephalography (EEG) anomalies. These anomalies were detected during routine control EEG and were not clinically evident. The young girl underwent surgical removal of the CC for cosmetic purpose. The EEG abnormalities disappeared after surgery, thus reinforcing the hypothesis of a correlation with the brain “compression” resulting from the CC. To the best of the authors' knowledge this is the first time that CC-associated EEG anomalies have been described: even though these anomalies cannot be considered an indication for surgery, they merit late follow-up in case of skull deformity.

scholarly journals Youth Tackle Football

Concussion ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 177-210
Author(s):  
Brian Hainline ◽  
Lindsey J. Gurin ◽  
Daniel M. Torres
Keyword(s):  
Developmentally Appropriate ◽  
Youth Sport ◽  
The United States ◽  
Physical Development ◽  
Development Model ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Youth Football ◽  
Tackle Football ◽  
Sport And Exercise

There has been an increasing movement to ban youth tackle football, despite the lack of a comprehensive and evidence-based evaluation of youth sport in general, and developmentally appropriate activities in particular. Physical illiteracy is a major concern in the United States, and youth sport provides a pathway for development of long-term engagement in sport and exercise, which results in physical literacy. The American Development Model is a comprehensive pathway that helps to assure long-term athlete development. Importantly, the American Development Model aims to assure developmentally appropriate activities, and considers not only physical development but also mental, emotional and social development. Future considerations of youth football should be within this model.

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