Effect of a cervical collar on head and neck acceleration profiles during emergency spinal immobilisation and extrication procedures in elite football (soccer) players: protocol for a randomised, controlled cross-over trial

Abstract

When immobilisation after a cervical spine or head injury is required, the role of the rigid cervical collar is unclear and controversial. There is a need for further studies investigating the use of a rigid cervical collar when head and neck trauma occurs in sport. This study will compare present practice (immobilisation with a cervical collar) to the same procedure without a collar during a simulated spinal immobilisation and extraction scenario from the field of play to the side-line in football (soccer). It will use a prospective cohort within-subjects cross over randomised, controlled trial design. Healthy participants will assume the role of players with a head or neck injury. Clinical practitioners will perform the immobilisation and extrication procedure according to current clinical guidelines. Three dimensional linear and angular acceleration profiles of the head and torso will be measured and the time taken to complete the procedure. The interventions will be a ‘cervical collar’ or ‘no collar’ in random order. Data from the IMUs will be transferred wirelessly to a computer for analysis. Accordingly, within-subject differences between each condition (collar vs no collar) will be assessed with parametric or non-parametric inferential statistics. Statistical significance will be set at p<0.05.Trial registration number:ISRCTN16515969

A within-person randomised trial to investigate the effects of a rigid cervical collar on three-dimensional angular movement and angular acceleration during emergency spinal immobilisation and extrication procedures in elite football (soccer) players: The RESTRICT study

“…Each procedure was performed three times with and three times without the collar without removing the IMUs. The equipment used is fully described in the protocol 21 and included the Laerdal Stifneck Select Cervical collar (Laerdal Medical, Stavanger, Norway).…”

“…The study was conducted and reported according to the recommendations of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement extension for within person randomised trials 20 . A detailed protocol of the RESTRICT study has been published elsewhere 21 .…”

“…Each was considered a key component likely to affect cervical angular movement and angular acceleration (Table 1; figure 1). The randomisation, procedure and equipment are fully described in the protocol 21 . Briefly, each procedure was performed with the collar given sequentially, (three times with and three times without) without removing the IMUs, using the Laerdal Stifneck Select Cervical collar (Laerdal Medical, Stavanger, Norway).…”