Headgear mandates in high school girls' lacrosse: investigating differences in impact rates and game play behaviors.

Background/objective: Headgear designed to protect girls' lacrosse athletes is widely available and permitted for voluntary use; however, it remains unknown how policies mandating headgear use may change the sport and, particularly regarding impacts during game-play. Therefore, this study compares the impact rates and game play characteristics of girls' high school lacrosse in Florida which mandates headgear use (HM), with states having no headgear mandate (NHM).

Materials And Methods: Video from 189 randomly-selected games (HM: 64, NHM: 125) were analyzed.

The Clinical Utility of the Child SCAT5 for Acute Concussion Assessment.

Background: The Child Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 5th Edition (Child SCAT5) was developed to evaluate children between 5 and 12 years of age for a suspected concussion. However, limited empirical evidence exists demonstrating the value of the Child SCAT5 for acute concussion assessment. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to examine differences and assess the diagnostic properties of Child SCAT5 scores among concussed and non-concussed middle school children on the same day as a suspected concussion.

Footwear Type and Testing Environment Do Not Affect Baseline Modified Balance Error Scoring System Performance Among Middle School Athletes.

Context: Limited evidence exists to demonstrate the effect of extrinsic factors, such as footwear worn or the testing environment, on performance of the modified balance error scoring system (mBESS) in the middle school age (10-14 y) population. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to investigate the effect of footwear types and testing environments on performance of the mBESS by middle school athletes.

Design: Cross-sectional.