Head acceleration across youth, high school, and collegiate soccer players

Soccer is the most popular sport worldwide with over 265 million active players. Soccer is unique in that you can use your head to advance the ball and purposeful heading is an integral part of the game. However, some have suggested that repeated heading of the soccer ball is associated with neurological deficits, though others have claimed that deficits are related to multiple head injuries. Still others have observed no neurological deficits. Ultimately, these studies are limited in that they often examine small, homogenous populations. With over 3 million youth soccer players and nearly 1 million high school soccer players competing across the United States each year, more research is needed to determine the risk associated with repeated purposeful heading, particularly among youth and high school athletes. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare head acceleration during purposeful soccer heading across age and gender, determine what factors predict higher head acceleration values, and investigate acute changes in vestibular/ocular function and postural control with purposeful soccer heading. At the collegiate and high school levels, female soccer players exhibited higher head accelerations than their male counterparts, suggesting that if female soccer players experience a similar number of headers as their male counterparts, females may be exposed to greater cumulative head accelerations from repeated heading of a soccer ball over a career of soccer. Greater neck girth, head-neck segment mass, and neck strength predicted lower peak linear and rotational acceleration and may have contributed to the observed gender differences. On average, soccer players presented with higher sway velocity post-heading compared to control participants, but no other group deficits in postural control or vestibular/ocular function were observed.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Delaware

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Caccese, Jaclyn B.

• Biological sciences
• Concussion
• Heading
• Neck strength
• Postural control
• Repetitive head impacts
• Soccer
• Sub-concussion

DOI

https://doi.org/10.58088/8qrj-0x62

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:udspace.udel.edu:19716/23614