Title: Head Impact Exposure and Concussion Incidence<br/>Author: Brian Corwell<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/294/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><p>
<strong>Head Impact Exposure and Concussion Incidence</strong></p>
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There has been a major focus on head impact biomechanics as a cause of single-impact concussion in football.</p>
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The role of repeated subclinical (without diagnosed concussion) head impact exposure (HIE)</p>
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during the preseason and regular season may also be contributory.</p>
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There may exist individualized concussion tolerance levels. This threshold may be reduced by the burden of sustained subconcussive impacts</p>
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NCAA Division 1 football athletes sustain a median of 426 impacts over the course of a football season</p>
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652 impacts/season in high school football</p>
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Total head impact exposure during the preseason occurred at 2x the rate of the regular season</p>
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This association was investigated over 1120 athlete seasons from 6 NCAA D1 football programs across 5 years</p>
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Head Impact Telemetry was used to record head impact exposure</p>
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Elevated preseason HIE was strongly associated with preseason and in season concussion incidence</p>
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Total season HIE was strongly associated with total season concussion incidence.</p>
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<strong>Conclusion</strong>: There is a prolonged effect of HIE on concussion risk starting with preseason football.</p>
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Athletes with higher preseason HIE may have higher risk of concussion for the entire fall season.</p>
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<strong>In Practice</strong>: </p>
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In 2016, the Ivy League eliminated full contact practices from the regular season in addition to their existing limits on the amount of full contact in practice during the spring and preseason.</p>
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Currently, the NCAA has the following limitations: Teams won’t be allowed to hold full-contact practices on more than two days in a row. Each practice session is limited to only 75 minutes of full contact, in addition to a limit of two preseason scrimmages.</p>
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<fieldset><legend>References</legend>
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<span style="color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Stemper BD, et al; CARE Consortium Investigators. Association between Preseason/Regular Season Head Impact Exposure and Concussion Incidence in NCAA Football. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2022 Jun 1;54(6):912-922.</span></p>
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