Position-based assessment of head impact frequency, severity, type, and location in high school American football
IntroductionResearch on head impact characteristics, especially position-specific investigations in football, has predominantly focused on collegiate and professional levels, leaving a gap in understanding the risks faced by high school players. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2024.1500786/full |
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| author | Amirhossein Bagherian Alireza Abbasi Ghiri Mohammadreza Ramzanpour James Wallace Sammy Elashy Morteza Seidi Marzieh Memar |
| author_facet | Amirhossein Bagherian Alireza Abbasi Ghiri Mohammadreza Ramzanpour James Wallace Sammy Elashy Morteza Seidi Marzieh Memar |
| author_sort | Amirhossein Bagherian |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionResearch on head impact characteristics, especially position-specific investigations in football, has predominantly focused on collegiate and professional levels, leaving a gap in understanding the risks faced by high school players. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of three factors—player position, impact location, and impact type—on the frequency, severity, and characteristics of impacts in high school American football. Additionally, we examined whether and how player position influences the distribution of impact locations and types.MethodsSixteen high school football players aged 14 to 17 participated in this study. Validated mouthguard sensors measured head impact kinematics, including linear acceleration, angular acceleration, and angular velocity across ten games, and were used to identify impact locations on the head. Video recordings verified true impacts, player position, and impact type at the moment of each recorded impact. Head impact kinematics were input into a head finite element model to determine the 95th percentile of the maximum principal strain and strain rate. Several novel and systematic approaches, such as normalization, binning, and clustering, were introduced and utilized to investigate the frequency and severity of head impacts across the three aforementioned factors while addressing some of the limitations of previous methodologies in the field. To that end, the number of recorded impacts for each player position during each game was divided by the number of players in that position, and then averaged across ten games. Instead of averaging, impacts were categorized into four severity bins: low, mid-low, mid-high and high. Clusters for the three factors were also identified according to the characteristics of impacts.Results and DiscussionResults revealed that offensive linemen and running backs experienced a higher normalized frequency and more severe impacts across all head kinematics and brain tissue deformation parameters. Frontal impacts, resulting from “head-to-head” impacts, were the most frequent and severe impact locations. The distributions of impact location and type for each specific position were distinct. Offensive linemen had the highest proportion of frontal impacts, while quarterbacks and centerbacks had more impacts at the rear location. These findings can inform interventions in game regulations, training practices, and helmet design to mitigate injury risks in high school football. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3b09d7d36c224eaebcd6f28cabccd814 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2296-4185 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology |
| spelling | doaj-art-3b09d7d36c224eaebcd6f28cabccd8142025-01-14T06:10:37ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology2296-41852025-01-011210.3389/fbioe.2024.15007861500786Position-based assessment of head impact frequency, severity, type, and location in high school American footballAmirhossein Bagherian0Alireza Abbasi Ghiri1Mohammadreza Ramzanpour2James Wallace3Sammy Elashy4Morteza Seidi5Marzieh Memar6Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United StatesDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United StatesDepartment of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United StatesDepartment of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United StatesDepartment of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United StatesDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United StatesDepartment of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United StatesIntroductionResearch on head impact characteristics, especially position-specific investigations in football, has predominantly focused on collegiate and professional levels, leaving a gap in understanding the risks faced by high school players. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of three factors—player position, impact location, and impact type—on the frequency, severity, and characteristics of impacts in high school American football. Additionally, we examined whether and how player position influences the distribution of impact locations and types.MethodsSixteen high school football players aged 14 to 17 participated in this study. Validated mouthguard sensors measured head impact kinematics, including linear acceleration, angular acceleration, and angular velocity across ten games, and were used to identify impact locations on the head. Video recordings verified true impacts, player position, and impact type at the moment of each recorded impact. Head impact kinematics were input into a head finite element model to determine the 95th percentile of the maximum principal strain and strain rate. Several novel and systematic approaches, such as normalization, binning, and clustering, were introduced and utilized to investigate the frequency and severity of head impacts across the three aforementioned factors while addressing some of the limitations of previous methodologies in the field. To that end, the number of recorded impacts for each player position during each game was divided by the number of players in that position, and then averaged across ten games. Instead of averaging, impacts were categorized into four severity bins: low, mid-low, mid-high and high. Clusters for the three factors were also identified according to the characteristics of impacts.Results and DiscussionResults revealed that offensive linemen and running backs experienced a higher normalized frequency and more severe impacts across all head kinematics and brain tissue deformation parameters. Frontal impacts, resulting from “head-to-head” impacts, were the most frequent and severe impact locations. The distributions of impact location and type for each specific position were distinct. Offensive linemen had the highest proportion of frontal impacts, while quarterbacks and centerbacks had more impacts at the rear location. These findings can inform interventions in game regulations, training practices, and helmet design to mitigate injury risks in high school football.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2024.1500786/fullhead kinematicshead impact frequencyhead impact severitytraumatic brain injurysport-related concussionmouthguards |
| spellingShingle | Amirhossein Bagherian Alireza Abbasi Ghiri Mohammadreza Ramzanpour James Wallace Sammy Elashy Morteza Seidi Marzieh Memar Position-based assessment of head impact frequency, severity, type, and location in high school American football Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology head kinematics head impact frequency head impact severity traumatic brain injury sport-related concussion mouthguards |
| title | Position-based assessment of head impact frequency, severity, type, and location in high school American football |
| title_full | Position-based assessment of head impact frequency, severity, type, and location in high school American football |
| title_fullStr | Position-based assessment of head impact frequency, severity, type, and location in high school American football |
| title_full_unstemmed | Position-based assessment of head impact frequency, severity, type, and location in high school American football |
| title_short | Position-based assessment of head impact frequency, severity, type, and location in high school American football |
| title_sort | position based assessment of head impact frequency severity type and location in high school american football |
| topic | head kinematics head impact frequency head impact severity traumatic brain injury sport-related concussion mouthguards |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2024.1500786/full |
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