Abstract
Purpose
In an effort to reduce head and facial injuries in girls’ lacrosse, ASTM F3137-approved headgear for girls’ lacrosse was developed. However, the effect of wearing headgear on impacts during girls’ lacrosse game play is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate differences in impact rates and magnitudes across two conditions (No Headgear, and Headgear) during girls’ lacrosse games.
Methods
Thirty-five female participants (16.2±1.2years, 1.66±0.05m, 61.2±6.4kg) volunteered for this study during 18 games in the 2016 (No Headgear), and 15 games in the 2017 (Headgear) lacrosse seasons. All participants were instrumented with wearable sensors (X2 Biosystems) prior to each game paired with video verification.
Results
There were a total of 700 sensor-instrumented player-games. A total of 204 impacts ≥ 20g recorded by the wearable sensors were verified using video analysis (102 No Headgear; 102 Headgear). Impact rates did not vary between the No Headgear and Headgear conditions (0.27 vs 0.31 AEs/per team game, IRR=0.87, 95% CI=0.66, 1.14). The No Headgear condition experienced higher magnitudes (median peak linear acceleration (PLA)=26.9g and peak rotational velocity (PRV)=1578.6 deg/s) than the Headgear conditions (median PLA=24.7g; Z= –2.6, P<. 0.01 and PRV=1304.2 deg/s; Z = –2.6, P<. 0.01). No game-related concussions were reported during this two-year study.
Conclusion
There were no meaningful differences between impact rates and only slight differences in impact magnitudes in the No Headgear and Headgear groups. Further research should be conducted with a larger sample and different levels of play to evaluate the consequences of ASTM F3137-approved headgear on impacts, injury risk, and game play.
