11.29 Head impact rates, mechanisms and kinematics in female high school lacrosse

• Published in: British journal of sports medicine 2024-01, Vol.58 (Suppl 1), p.A147-A148
• Main Authors: Patton, Declan, Huber, Colin, Duchossois, Julia, Margulies, Susan, Master, Christina, Arbogast, Kristy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Females; Kinematics; Second Round Abstract Submissions; Secondary schools
• ISSN: 0306-3674; 1473-0480
• DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2023-concussion.387

ObjectiveA lack of quantitative evidence exists regarding head impact exposure in female lacrosse. Therefore, the objective was to quantify the rates, mechanisms and kinematics of head impacts in high school female lacrosse from video-verified events recorded by instrumented mouthguards.DesignProspective cohort observational study.SettingOne season (16 games) of high school female lacrosse competition.ParticipantsAdolescent female (n=6) lacrosse players.Outcome MeasuresHead impact rate was calculated as the number of video-verified head impacts recorded by the Stanford instrumented mouthguard (MiG) divided by the number of athlete-exposures and player-hours as calculated from video tracking of individual playing time. Mechanism of impact (i.e. player contact, fall, ball) was determined from video review of sensor-recorded events. Peak resultant kinematics were calculated from the full time-histories recorded by the MiG sensors.Main ResultsA total of 11 head impacts were recorded during 47 athlete-exposures and 41.9 player-hours for impact rates of 0.23 and 0.26 impacts per athlete-exposure and player-hour, respectively. The most common mechanism for head impacts was player contact (7, 64%), which comprised impacts from the stick (4, 57%) and thorax (3, 43%) of other players. Median (interquartile range) peak kinematics were 31.6 (19.4–44.5) g, 19.2 (9.1–23.1) rad/s and 2951 (2479–5383) rad/s2. Peak resultant kinematics for player contacts were typical higher compared to other mechanisms. No players sustained a concussion from these impacts.ConclusionsHead impacts from player contacts were more common, and typically had higher peak kinematics, than impacts from other mechanisms. These findings may inform injury prevention efforts.