While previous research has identified the reasons for the concussion-reporting behavior of rugby union players, the influence of confounding factors such as concussion experience, education, and knowledge of concussion symptoms, any of which may have influenced the results, has not been considered. This study aimed to clarify the reasons for the reporting behavior of college rugby union players regarding suspected concussion symptoms by adjusting for confounding factors using the propensity score. A questionnaire about both concussion knowledge and concussion-reporting behavior was administered to 240 collegiate rugby union players. Of the 208 (86.7%) valid respondents to the questionnaire, 196 (94.2%) had experienced any one symptom of a suspected concussion, such as headache, at least once, and 137 (65.9%) reported symptoms to someone else. This study’s results revealed two important reasons for reporting symptoms: (1) the willingness of players to report experienced symptoms to someone else, along with realizing a concussion, and (2) the willingness of players to report suspected concussion symptoms, despite the absence of a doctor or trainer. These results suggest that providing educational opportunities to recognize suspected concussion symptoms and establishing a team culture of reporting physical problems to someone else is important for improving concussion-reporting behavior.
American football is associated with a high risk of cervical injuries. In order to prevent these injuries, head acceleration during head impacts is currently being studied, but no studies have examined the effects on the neck. We aimed to examine the effects of head impact kinematics (the number of head impacts, maximum head linear acceleration [LA], and maximum head angular acceleration [AA]) on cervical vertebral translation (VT) in collegiate American football players over a one-year period. Twenty-two players (5 linemen and 17 skill players) who belonged to T university in the Kantoh Collegiate American Football Association Division 2. We examined the relationship between the total number of head impact kinematics over a 1-year period and the amount of cervical vertebral translation as measured by a mouth guard with a 6-axis accelerometer. The total number of head impacts of subjects was 12,368. For skill players, the 4th cervical vertebral movement distance was significantly correlated with the maximum AA (r = 0.49, P = 0.04) and also with the maximum LA (r = 0.48, P = 0.05). In Japanese collegiate American football players, it was suggested that the repeated head impacts with large maximum LA and AA generated in the head affected the amount of the 4th cervical vertebral translation. In particular, skill players were affected, so they need to develop safer tackle skills even when tackling at high speed. This may result in a decrease in acceleration during head impact, leading to a decrease in the load on the cervical spine.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.