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Background: Exposure to head acceleration events (HAEs) has been associated with player sex, player position, and player experience in North American football, ice hockey, and lacrosse. Little is known of these factors in professional Australian football. Video analysis allows HAE verification and characterization of important determinants of injury. Purpose: To characterize verified HAEs in the nonhelmeted contact sport of professional Australian football and investigate the association of sex, player position, and player experience with HAE frequency and magnitude. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: Professional Australian football players wore a nonhelmeted accelerometer for 1 match, with data collected across 14 matches. HAEs with peak linear accelerations (PLAs) ≥30 g were verified with match video. Verified HAEs were summarized by frequency and median PLA and compared between the sexes, player position, and player experience. Characterization of match-related situations of verified HAEs was conducted, and the head impact rate per skill execution was calculated. Results: 92 male and 118 female players were recruited during the 2017 season. Male players sustained more HAEs (median, 1; IQR, 0-2) than female players (median, 0; IQR, 0-1; P = .007) during a match. The maximum PLAs incurred during a match were significantly higher in male players (median, 61.8 g; IQR, 40.5-87.1) compared with female players (median, 44.5 g; IQR, 33.6-74.8; P = .032). Neither player position nor experience was associated with HAE frequency. Of all verified HAEs, 52% (n = 110) occurred when neither team had possession of the football, and 46% (n = 98) were caused by contact from another player attempting to gain possession of the football. A subset of HAEs (n = 12; 5.7%) resulted in players seeking medical aid and/or being removed from the match (median PLA, 58.8 g; IQR, 34.0-89.0), with 2 (male) players diagnosed with concussion after direct head impacts and associated PLAs of 62 g and 75 g, respectively. In the setting of catching (marking) the football, female players exhibited twice the head impact rate (16 per 100 marking contests) than male players (8 per 100 marking contests). Conclusion: Playing situations in which players have limited control of the football are a common cause of impacts. Male players sustained a greater exposure to HAEs compared with female players. Female players, however, sustained higher exposure to HAEs than male players during certain skill executions, possibly reflecting differences in skill development. These findings can therefore inform match and skill development in the emerging professional women’s competition of Australian football.

Executive functions (EFs), such as inhibition and cognitive flexibility, are essential for everyday functioning, including regulation of socially appropriate emotional responses. These skills develop during childhood and continue maturing into early adulthood. The current study aimed to investigate the very long-term impact of childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) on inhibition and cognitive flexibility, and to examine whether global white matter is associated with these abilities. Inhibition, the ability to monitor and control responses, and cognitive flexibility, the ability to switch attention between cognitive demands (Konrad, Gauggel, Manz, & Sch€ oll, 2000), are EF skills particularly vulnerable to childhood TBI (Anderson et al., 2001). Impairments in these domains have been associated with difficulties in everyday functioning, such as regulating socially appropriate emotional and behavioral responses (Beauchamp & Anderson, 2010;Ganesalingam, Yeates, Sanson, & Anderson, 2007;Gioia, Isquith, Guy, & Kenworthy, 2000). SignificanceThis study highlights the enduring impact that childhood traumatic brain injury can exert on survivors throughout late adolescence and into early adulthood. Survivors who sustained traumatic brain injury in childhood did not reflect the typical brain behavior relationship that characterized executive function in adulthood. These findings suggest long-lasting changes in the brain behavior connections following childhood traumatic brain injury, thereby serving as a reminder to refrain from downplaying a head injury sustained in early childhood.

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The objective of this systematic scoping review is to understand the extent and scope of evidence regarding neurodiversity in elite sport. This systematic scoping review considered epidemiological studies, commentary and viewpoints papers, systematic review and meta-analyses, and any intervention or clinical treatment, management and practice studies in relation to neurodiversity in elite sport. Case studies and grey literature were ineligible for review. Neurodivergence included neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and specific learning disorders. Elite sport was defined as Olympic, Paralympic, national, international, professional and semiprofessional sport. The final 23 studies included in this review comprised 10 observational studies, 4 systematic/narrative reviews, 6 commentary/position statements and 3 qualitative studies. The literature reflected a major focus on ADHD as a risk factor for concussion and prognosis for postconcussion recovery. Further, there was a focus on the medical management of ADHD, regarding adherence to sporting antidoping regulations. One study focused on the experience of autism in athletes in elite sport settings through qualitative interviews. One study focused on anxiety disorders in elite athletes, with ADHD emerging as a major risk factor. There is a strong rationale for future research to build on the evidence for neurodiversity in elite sport to foster supportive and inclusive elite sporting environments.

Aim: To explore soft-shell padded headgear (HG) use, player behavior and injuries associated with HG in junior Australian football. Methods: Prospective case-crossover with head impact measurement, injury surveillance and video review. Results: 40 players (mean age: 12.43 years, standard deviation: 1.36) across 15 matches were observed. Frequency of head/neck (p = 0.916) or body (p = 0.883) contact events, and match incidents were similar between HG and no HG conditions. Without HG, females had higher frequency of body contacts compared with males (p = 0.015). Males sustained more body contacts with HG than without HG (p = 0.013). Conclusion: Use of HG in junior football was not associated with injury or head contact rate. Associations between HG use and body contact may differ across sexes. (ID: ACTRN12619001165178).