Hawaiian High School Football Player Positional Differences in Helmet Impact Characteristics.

Context: The importance of analyzing head impact exposure among football players is well established, yet few studies have explored the differences across position groups in high school athletes. Better understanding of these differences may provide optimized intervention strategies for coaches and healthcare providers.

Objective: To quantify the difference of head impacts per exposure (Imp/E) and impact burden high school football player position groups.

Helmetless Tackling Training Intervention and Preseason Self-efficacy Effects on Head Impacts in Hawai'i High School Football.

Objective: To determine how football head impacts are influenced by self-efficacy (SE), helmetless tackling intervention participation (IP), and years of experience (YE) playing football.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Three high schools.

Head Impact Exposure in Hawaiian High School Football: Influence of Adherence Rates on a Helmetless Tackling and Blocking Training Intervention.

Context: High school football remains a popular, physically demanding sport despite the known risks for acute brain and neck injury. Impacts to the head also raise concerns about their cumulative effects and long-term health consequences.

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of a helmetless tackling training program to reduce head impact exposure in football participants.

National Athletic Trainers' Association Position Statement: Reducing Intentional Head-First Contact Behavior in American Football Players.

Objective: To provide evidence-based recommendations for reducing the prevalence of head-first contact behavior in American football players with the aim of reducing the risk of head and neck injuries.

Background: In American football, using the head as the point of contact is a persistent, well-documented, and direct cause of catastrophic head and cervical spine injury. Equally concerning is that repeated head-impact exposures are likely to result from head-first contact behavior and may be associated with long-term neurocognitive conditions such as dementia, depression, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Consensus Recommendations on the Prehospital Care of the Injured Athlete With a Suspected Catastrophic Cervical Spine Injury.

Introduction: Sports participation is among the leading causes of catastrophic cervical spine injury (CSI) in the United States. Appropriate prehospital care for athletes with suspected CSIs should be available at all levels of sport. The goal of this project was to develop a set of best-practice recommendations appropriate for athletic trainers, emergency responders, sports medicine and emergency physicians, and others engaged in caring for athletes with suspected CSIs.

Consensus Recommendations on the Prehospital Care of the Injured Athlete With a Suspected Catastrophic Cervical Spine Injury.

Introduction: Sports participation is among the leading causes of catastrophic cervical spine injury (CSI) in the United States. Appropriate prehospital care for athletes with suspected CSIs should be available at all levels of sport. The goal of this project was to develop a set of best-practice recommendations appropriate for athletic trainers, emergency responders, sports medicine and emergency physicians, and others engaged in caring for athletes with suspected CSIs.

Implementation study of a 5-component pediatric early warning system (PEWS) in an emergency department in British Columbia, Canada, to inform provincial scale up.

Background: The rapid identification of deterioration in the pediatric population is complex, particularly in the emergency department (ED). A comprehensive multi-faceted Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) might maximize early recognition of clinical deterioration and provide a structured process for the reassessment and escalation of care. The objective of the study was to evaluate the implementation fidelity, effectiveness, and utility of a 5-component PEWS implemented in the ED of an urban public general hospital in British Columbia, Canada, and to guide provincial scale up.

A helmetless-tackling intervention in American football for decreasing head impact exposure: A randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To evaluate a behavioral intervention to reduce head impact exposure in youth playing American football.

Design: Nested randomized controlled trial.

Methods: Participants, ages 14-17 years, wore head impact sensors (SIM-G™) during two seasons of play.

Cervical spine trauma: prevention strategies.

Participation in any sport activity carries risk of cervical spine trauma, but certain activities have a higher risk than others, and hence, demand concerted efforts in developing prevention strategies. Prevention often includes efforts surrounding education of stakeholders, creating or modifying rules, and specific policies adopted for decreasing such risk. Stakeholders include sport clinicians, participants, coaches, parents, league administrators, officials, and the public.

Delivering Chest Compressions and Ventilations With and Without Men's Lacrosse Equipment.

Context:   Current management recommendations for equipment-laden athletes in sudden cardiac arrest regarding whether to remove protective sports equipment before delivering cardiopulmonary resuscitation are unclear.

Objective:   To determine the effect of men's lacrosse equipment on chest compression and ventilation quality on patient simulators.

Design:   Cross-sectional study.

Prehospital Cervical Spine Motion: Immobilization Versus Spine Motion Restriction.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of two different spinal immobilization techniques on cervical spine movement in a simulated prehospital ground transport setting.

Methods: A counterbalanced crossover design was used to evaluate two different spinal immobilization techniques in a standardized environment. Twenty healthy male volunteers (age = 20.

Asymmetry of lower extremity force and muscle activation during knee extension and functional tasks.

Introduction: Strength and power asymmetries of >10% may negatively impact physical function.

Methods: Twenty-four healthy participants, 30-60 years of age, were assessed for muscle power asymmetry during isokinetic knee extension and ground reaction force asymmetry during chair-rise and vertical jump tasks. Neuromuscular activation asymmetry and coactivation of vastus lateralis (VL) and biceps femoris (BF) were assessed in each condition.

Football Equipment Removal Improves Chest Compression and Ventilation Efficacy.

Objective: Airway access recommendations in potential catastrophic spine injury scenarios advocate for facemask removal, while keeping the helmet and shoulder pads in place for ensuing emergency transport. The anecdotal evidence to support these recommendations assumes that maintaining the helmet and shoulder pads assists inline cervical stabilization and that facial access guarantees adequate airway access. Our objective was to determine the effect of football equipment interference on performing chest compressions and delivering adequate ventilations on patient simulators.

Early Results of a Helmetless-Tackling Intervention to Decrease Head Impacts in Football Players.

Objective: To test a helmetless-tackling behavioral intervention for reducing head impacts in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I football players.

Design: Randomized controlled clinical trial.

Setting: Football field.

Cold-Water Immersion for Hyperthermic Humans Wearing American Football Uniforms.

Context: Current treatment recommendations for American football players with exertional heatstroke are to remove clothing and equipment and immerse the body in cold water. It is unknown if wearing a full American football uniform during cold-water immersion (CWI) impairs rectal temperature (Trec) cooling or exacerbates hypothermic afterdrop.

Objective: To determine the time to cool Trec from 39.

Emergent Access to the Airway and Chest in American Football Players.

Context: American football has the highest rate of fatalities and catastrophic injuries of any US sport. The equipment designed to protect athletes from these catastrophic events challenges the ability of medical personnel to obtain neutral spine alignment and immobilization during airway and chest access for emergency life-support delivery.

Objective: To compare motion, time, and difficulty during removal of American football helmets, face masks, and shoulder pads.

A novel sensorimotor movement and walking intervention to improve balance and gait in women.

Purpose: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a 5-day mind-body exercise (MBE) program on measures of quality of life, balance, balance confidence, mobility and gait in community-dwelling women.

Methods: The MBE program was a 5-day retreat where multiple sessions of Feldenkrais(®)-based sensorimotor movement training and walking were performed daily. Forty-six women aged 40-80 years old participated in either the MBE program or maintained normal daily activity.

Head and Trunk Acceleration During Intermediate Transport on Medical Utility Vehicles.

Objective: To compare head and trunk acceleration during transport on 2 medical utility vehicles.

Design: Within subject.

Setting: Controlled laboratory.

National athletic trainers' association position statement: preventing sudden death in sports.

Objective: To present recommendations for the prevention and screening, recognition, and treatment of the most common conditions resulting in sudden death in organized sports.

Background: Cardiac conditions, head injuries, neck injuries, exertional heat stroke, exertional sickling, asthma, and other factors (eg, lightning, diabetes) are the most common causes of death in athletes.

Recommendations: These guidelines are intended to provide relevant information on preventing sudden death in sports and to give specific recommendations for certified athletic trainers and others participating in athletic health care.

A study of emergency American football helmet removal techniques.

Purpose: The purpose was to compare head kinematics between the Eject Helmet Removal System and manual football helmet removal.

Basic Procedures: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting. Thirty-two certified athletic trainers (sex, 19 male and 13 female; age, 33 ± 10 years; height, 175 ± 12 cm; mass, 86 ± 20 kg) removed a football helmet from a healthy model under 2 conditions: manual helmet removal and Eject system helmet removal.

The readability of paediatric patient information materials: Are families satisfied with our handouts and brochures?

Objectives: To determine the grade reading level of eight easily available patient handouts for parents of children with otitis media, to calculate the internal reliability and consistency of seven readability tests, and to explore the relationship between the grade reading level of a handout and parent satisfaction.

Methods: Eight patient handouts developed for the parents of children with otitis media were collected, stripped of all formatting and analyzed using seven different readability formulas. Cronbach's alpha and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated to determine the internal reliability and consistency of the seven formulas.

Maintaining neutral sagittal cervical alignment after football helmet removal during emergency spine injury management.

Study Design: Descriptive laboratory study.

Objective: To determine whether the placement of padding beneath the occiput after helmet removal is an effective intervention to maintain neutral sagittal cervical spine alignment in a position comparable with the helmeted condition.

Summary Of Background Data: Current on-field recommendations for managing football athletes with suspected cervical spine injuries call for face mask removal, rather than helmet removal, because the combination of helmet and shoulder pads has been shown to maintain neutral cervical alignment.