Faculty Collaboration Database

Comparison of Head Impact Exposure Between Concussed Football Athletes and Matched Controls: Evidence for a Possible Second Mechanism of Sport-Related Concussion. Ann Biomed Eng 2019 Oct;47(10):2057-2072

Date

10/27/2018

Pubmed ID

30362082

Pubmed Central ID

PMC6785644

DOI

10.1007/s10439-018-02136-6

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85055939777 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   62 Citations

Abstract

Studies of football athletes have implicated repetitive head impact exposure in the onset of cognitive and brain structural changes, even in the absence of diagnosed concussion. Those studies imply accumulating damage from successive head impacts reduces tolerance and increases risk for concussion. Support for this premise is that biomechanics of head impacts resulting in concussion are often not remarkable when compared to impacts sustained by athletes without diagnosed concussion. Accordingly, this analysis quantified repetitive head impact exposure in a cohort of 50 concussed NCAA Division I FBS college football athletes compared to controls that were matched for team and position group. The analysis quantified the number of head impacts and risk weighted exposure both on the day of injury and for the season to the date of injury. 43% of concussed athletes had the most severe head impact exposure on the day of injury compared to their matched control group and 46% of concussed athletes had the most severe head impact exposure for the season to the date of injury compared to their matched control group. When accounting for date of injury or season to date of injury, 72% of all concussed athletes had the most or second most severe head impact exposure compared to their matched control group. These trends associating cumulative head impact exposure with concussion onset were stronger for athletes that participated in a greater number of contact activities. For example, 77% of athletes that participated in ten or more days of contact activities had greater head impact exposure than their matched control group. This unique analysis provided further evidence for the role of repetitive head impact exposure as a predisposing factor for the onset of concussion. The clinical implication of these findings supports contemporary trends of limiting head impact exposure for college football athletes during practice activities in an effort to also reduce risk of concussive injury.

Author List

Stemper BD, Shah AS, Harezlak J, Rowson S, Mihalik JP, Duma SM, Riggen LD, Brooks A, Cameron KL, Campbell D, DiFiori JP, Giza CC, Guskiewicz KM, Jackson J, McGinty GT, Svoboda SJ, McAllister TW, Broglio SP, McCrea M, CARE Consortium Investigators

Authors

Michael McCrea PhD Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Brian Stemper PhD Professor in the Biomedical Engineering department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Acceleration
Athletes
Brain Concussion
Football
Head
Head Protective Devices
Humans
Male
Telemetry
Universities