Patterns of head impact exposure in men’s and women’s collegiate club water polo

Abstract

Objectives: Recent reports have demonstrated a risk of concussion and subconcussive head impacts in collegiate varsity and international elite water polo. We sought to characterize patterns of head impact exposure at the collegiate club level of water polo.Design: Prospective cohort study.Method: Head impact sensors (SIM-G, Triax Technologies) were worn by men's (n=16) and women's (n=15) collegiate club water polo players during 11 games. Peak linear acceleration (PLA) and peak rotational acceleration (PRA) of head impacts were recorded by the sensors. Two streams of competition video were used to verify and describe the nature 0f head impacts.Results: Men's players sustained 52 verified head impacts of magnitude 39.7±16.3g PLA and 5.2±3.2 krads/sec 2 PRA, and women's players sustained 43 verified head impacts of magnitude 33.7±12.6g PLA and 4.0±2.8 krads/sec 2 PRA. Impacts sustained by men had greater PLA than those sustained by women (p = .045). Athletes we e impact d most frequently at the offensive center position, to the back of the head, and by an opponent's torso or limb. Conclusions:Our cohort of male and female athletes sustained relatively infrequent head impacts during water polo competitions played at the collegiate club level. The amount of head impact exposure in our cohort was dependent on player position, with offensive centers prone to sustaining the most impacts. Head impact sensors are subject to large amounts of false positives and should be used in conjunction with video recordings to verify the validity of impact data.

Salivary S100 calcium-binding protein beta (S100B) and neurofilament light (NfL) after acute exposure to repeated head impacts in collegiate water polo players

“…Most of the impacts we observed had a peak linear acceleration component < 32 g and a peak rotational acceleration component < 4 krads/s 2 , making them comparable to impacts measured in soccer and lacrosse with the same sensor used in the current study 56 , 57 . Note that the poor false-positive rate of the SIM-G in this study (92.4%) is well documented in water polo 45 , 46 , and is consistent with limitations of similar head impact sensors in land-based sports 58 , underscoring the importance of video review for interpretation of data collected with these sensors 59 . Likewise, it is quite unlikely that the sensors have a significant false-negative rate and, when considered together with the high interrater reliability between independent observers, it is also unlikely that exposure, as measured by the frequency of head impacts, is underestimated in our sample.…”

“…Our group previously demonstrated that exposure differed between males and females competing at the club level 46 , but the potentially interactive effect of competition level is unknown in water polo. Thus, we characterized head impact exposure for each team and tested for differences between teams based on sex and level of competition.…”

“…Our group has previously reported on the risks of head impact exposure in water polo, an intense, contact sport that carries a high risk of head, face, and neck injury, particularly at the elite level 43 , 44 . Specifically, we have observed that collegiate water polo players competing at the varsity and club levels sustain regular asymptomatic head impacts 45 , 46 , which may alter brain function in a dose-dependent manner over a competitive season 47 . However, the acute physiological effects of these impacts remain unknown.…”

Injuries Affecting Intercollegiate Water Polo Athletes: A Descriptive Epidemiologic Study

“…These findings highlight the critical need for concussion-reduction strategies, which may benefit from different approaches for men and women; whereas the highest percentage of male concussions occurred via contact with another player, the highest percentage of female concussions occurred via contact with a playing device (ie, the ball). As several studies have shown position-specific differences in head impacts/concussions during play, 2 – 4 concussion-prevention strategies would be enhanced by more detailed injury surveillance data that include player-position information and a more thorough description of the injury mechanism.…”

Head Impact Biomechanics in Youth Flag Football: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…The SIM-G telemetry system was utilized for this study because it can wirelessly record, store, and transmit real-time head impact data from nonhelmeted players and has been widely used in various sports examining head impact biomechanics. 6,14,16,33…”