Brain trauma exposure for American tackle football players 5 to 9 and 9 to 14 years of age.

American football helmets used by youth players are currently designed and tested to the same standards as professionals. The National Operating Committee on Standard and Safety requested research aiming at understanding the differences in brain trauma in youth American football for players aged five to nine and nine to fourteen years old to inform a youth specific American football standard. Video analysis and laboratory reconstructions of head impacts were undertaken to measure differences in head impact frequency, event types, and magnitudes of maximum principal strain (MPS) for the two age groups.

The Influence of Neck Stiffness on Head Kinematics and Maximum Principal Strain Associated With Youth American Football Collisions.

Understanding the relationship between head mass and neck stiffness during direct head impacts is especially concerning in youth sports where athletes have higher proportional head mass to neck strength. This study compared 2 neck stiffness conditions for peak linear and rotational acceleration and brain tissue deformations across 3 impact velocities, 3 impact locations, and 2 striking masses. A pendulum fitted with a nylon cap was used to impact a fifth percentile hybrid III headform equipped with 9 accelerometers and fitted with a youth American football helmet.

Simulated brain strains resulting from falls differ between concussive events of young children and adults.

Compared to adults, it has been documented that children are at elevated risk for concussion, repeated concussions, and experience longer recovery times. What is unknown, is whether the developing brain may be injured at differing strain levels. This study examined peak and cumulative brain strain from 20 cases of concussion in both young children and adults using physical reconstructions and finite element modelling of the brain response to impacts.

Biomechanical Comparison of Real World Concussive Impacts in Children, Adolescents, and Adults.

Accidental falls occur to people of all ages, with some resulting in concussive injury. At present, it is unknown whether children and adolescents are at a comparable risk of sustaining a concussion compared to adults. This study reconstructed the impact kinematics of concussive falls for children, adolescents, and adults and simulated the associated brain tissue deformations.

Pediatric concussion: biomechanical differences between outcomes of transient and persistent (> 4 weeks) postconcussion symptoms.

OBJECTIVE Currently, little is known about the biomechanics of head impact for concussion in youths (ages 5 to 18 years). Even less is known about the biomechanical characteristics and variables related to head impacts that may be useful in differentiating between transient and persistent postconcussion symptoms in a youth population. The purpose of this research was to examine the differences in biomechanics of youth head impact for transient postconcussion symptoms (TPCSs) and persistent postconcussion symptoms (PPCSs) by using data from a hospital population.

Characterization of persistent concussive syndrome using injury reconstruction and finite element modelling.

Concussions occur 1.7 million times a year in North America, and account for approximately 75% of all traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Concussions usually cause transient symptoms but 10 to 20% of patients can have symptoms that persist longer than a month.

Thermal conductivity of the porcine heart tissue.

The porcine heart was used as a model for studying the thermal changes in myocardium at cooling and re-warming during open heart surgery. A section of the heart septum was excised and tissue was cut into two similar square slices. The same shape of the tissue, cut from the surface from the upper lateral wall of the left ventricle, covered with epicardium and fat, was taken for another measurement.

Thermal conductivity of the porcine heart tissue.

The porcine heart was used as a model for studying the thermal changes in myocardium at cooling and re-warming during open heart surgery. A section of the heart septum was excised and tissue was cut into two similar square slices. The same shape of the tissue, cut from the surface from the upper lateral wall of the left ventricle, covered with epicardium and fat, was taken for another measurement.