Data-informed Intervention Improves Football Technique and Reduces Head Impacts

Abstract

Introduction: Although sport participation is a key contributor to the physical and mental health of children and youth, exposure to subconcussive head impacts in football has raised concerns about safety for athletes. Purpose: To demonstrate the efficacy of incorporating targeted football drills into a team's practice routine with the goal of improving players' technique and reduce exposure to subconcussive head impacts. Methods: Seventy high school football players (age, 16.4 ± 1.1 yr) were tested PRE season using a sport-specific functional assessment. Results from the testing were used to inform the design of a prepractice intervention aimed at improving tackling and blocking techniques while reducing exposure to head impacts. The assessment included drills which evaluated the players' ability to safely tackle, and block while simulating game-like situations. Testing was repeated at MID season (internal control) without an intervention, and again at POST season (experimental), after introduction of the prepractice intervention between these timepoints, administered twice weekly. All testing sessions were recorded, and subsequently reviewed by trained graders based on selected criteria defined by football coaches. A subset of 19 participants wore in-helmet accelerometers to assess the effectiveness of the intervention in decreasing head impacts during practice. Results: Significant improvements in blocking and tackling techniques were observed after the introduction of the intervention (P < 0.0001). Participating athletes also showed better techniques when evaluated in new game-like situations, postseason, providing evidence for proper acquisition and generalizability of these safer habits. Finally, frequency of head impacts (>15g) per practice was significantly reduced by~30% after 1 month of training. Conclusion: Our results suggest that data-informed methods can be used to improve coaching practices and promote safer play, which can have a positive public health impact moving forward.

The Effectiveness of Regulations and Behavioral Interventions on Head Impacts and Concussions in Youth, High-School, and Collegiate Football: A Systematized Review

“…Of the 20 included studies, 8 studies evaluated interventions in high-school football, 7,9,13,24,30,39,48,55 5 studies evaluated interventions in collegiate football, 10,50,51,54,60 6 studies evaluated interventions in youth football, [25][26][27]29,38,58 and 1 study evaluated interventions in both, high-school and collegiate football. 57 Summaries of included articles for youth, highschool, and collegiate, football are presented separately in Tables 1, 2, and 3 respectively.…”

“…Figure 2 depicts the categorization of studies by intervention and regulation. Seven studies evaluated the effectiveness of rule changes, 7,25,27,39,50,51,60 two studies evaluated the effectiveness of training programs, 10,57 9 studies evaluated the effectiveness of education/instruction/coaching tactical changes, 9,13,24,26,27,30,48,54,55 and 3 studies evaluated the effectiveness of alternatives to tackle football. 29,38,58 Of the 7 studies that evaluated the effectiveness of rule changes, 5 articles assessed rule changes targeting practice conditions, 7,27,39,50,51 1 article evaluated rule changes targeting game conditions, 60 and 1 article analyzed the difference between rules for player enrollments.…”

“…Eight studies evaluated the effectiveness of interventions or regulations in high-school football and were included in this review: one randomized controlled trial (RCT), four cohort studies, one crosssectional study, one clustered quasi-experimental study, and one experimental study. 7,9,13,24,30,39,48,55 The methods used to recruit teams and participants varied across experimental designs. Shanley et al 48 recruited teams that met certain criteria.…”

“…The total number of participants in the different groups does not add up to the total number of participants because two studies had participants that were part of both groups. 7,9 Number of participants included in each study varied remarkably, with a range of 41-3232 participants. Only one study accounted for players previous playing experience, mentioning that there was no difference amongst players' experience.…”

“…Combs et al 13 followed participants in the intervention and control groups for 3 football seasons. Champagne et al 9 and Kerr et al 24 followed all participants for 1 football season.…”