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Head Impact Exposure in Youth and Collegiate American Football

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Abstract

The relationship between head impact and subsequent brain injury for American football players is not well-defined, especially for youth. The objective of this study is to quantify and assess Head Impact Exposure (HIE) metrics among youth and collegiate football players. This multi-season study enrolled 639 unique athletes (354 collegiate; 285 youth, ages 9–14), recording 476,209 head impacts (367,337 collegiate; 108,872 youth) over 971 sessions (480 collegiate; 491 youth). Youth players experienced 43 and 65% fewer impacts per competition and practice, respectively, and lower impact magnitudes compared to collegiate players (95th percentile peak linear acceleration (PLA, g) competition: 45.6 vs 61.9; 95th percentile PLA practice: 42.6 vs 58.8; 95th percentile peak rotational acceleration (PRA, rad·s−2) competition: 2262 vs 4422; 95th percentile PRA practice: 2081 vs 4052; 95th percentile HITsp competition: 25.4 vs 32.8; 95th percentile HITsp practice: 23.9 vs 30.2). Impacts during competition were more frequent and of greater magnitude than during practice at both levels. Quantified comparisons of head impact frequency and magnitude between youth and collegiate athletes reveal HIE differences as a function of age, and expanded insight better informs the development of age-appropriate guidelines for helmet design, prevention measures, standardized testing, brain injury diagnosis, and recovery management.

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Acknowledgments

This project is possible thanks to the previous efforts of Dr. Stephen Duma and his team at Virginia Tech, Dr. Joel Stitzel and his team at Wake Forest University, Dr. Rick Greenwald and his team at Simbex, and all those involved throughout the years from the Crisco Lab.

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers NIH R01NS094410, R01HD048638, and RO1NS055020.

Conflict of interest

HIT System technology was developed in part under NIH R44HD40743 and research and development support from Riddell Inc (Elyria, OH). J.G.B., R.M.G., and J.J.C. have a financial interest in the instruments (HIT System, Sideline Response System; Riddell Inc) that were used to collect the biomechanical data reported in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital, 1 Hoppin Street, Suite 402C Coro West, Providence, RI, 02903, USA

    Grace B. Choi & Joseph J. Crisco

  2. Department of Statistics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Eric P. Smith

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Stefan M. Duma, Steven Rowson & Eamon Campolettano

  4. School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Virginia Tech-Wake Forest, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Mireille E. Kelley, Derek A. Jones, Joel D. Stitzel & Jillian E. Urban

  5. Simbex, Lebanon, NH, USA

    Amaris Genemaras, Jonathan G. Beckwith & Richard M. Greenwald

  6. Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA

    Arthur Maerlender

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  1. Grace B. Choi
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  2. Eric P. Smith
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  3. Stefan M. Duma
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Correspondence to Joseph J. Crisco.

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Associate Editor Stefan M.Duma oversaw the review of this article.

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Choi, G.B., Smith, E.P., Duma, S.M. et al. Head Impact Exposure in Youth and Collegiate American Football. Ann Biomed Eng 50, 1488–1497 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-022-02974-5

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