Comparing Men’s Soccer Head Impact Characteristics Over a Three Year Time Period Karlie Ennis

Introduction Heading a soccer ball includes linear acceleration as well as rotational acceleration of the skull Injury rates for soccer are near the top for sports US soccer organization regulations on heading the soccer ball Understanding head impact characteristics may provide insight for preventative measures

Purpose To compare head impact characteristics in men’s soccer over 3 years based on location on the head and the mechanism of the impact

Methods 26 NCAA Division III male soccer players Independent variable: head impact location and mechanism Dependent variable: magnitude and frequency of head impacts xPatch sensors measured linear and rotational acceleration 10 g threshold Video confirmation

Results The interaction between mechanism and location was significant for linear accelerations ( F9,1128=1.97, p=.040, η2=.02) post hoc test results

Results The interaction between mechanism and location was significant for rotational accelerations (F9,1128=2.95, p<.01, η2 =.02) post hoc test results

Results The most common head impact mechanism was ball to head (IR=441.86, CI95=406.18-477.55)

Results The most common location on the head was to the side of the head (IR=478.62, CI95=441.48-515.76) 

Discussion Head to ball most frequent head impact Main brain structures on the side of the head are the parietal lobe and temporal lobe Coaches’ awareness

Discussion Limitation to this study Limited generalizability Future Research Compare games versus practices Compare results to other levels

Conclusion Incident Rate comparison Head impact prevention efforts