A pilot case crossover study of the use of padded headgear in junior Australian football

Catherine Willmott; Jonathan Reyes; Jack V K Nguyen; Andrew McIntosh; Jennifer Makovec-Knight; Michael Makdissi; Patrick Clifton; Peter Harcourt; Biswadev Mitra

doi:10.2217/cnc-2022-0005

A pilot case crossover study of the use of padded headgear in junior Australian football

Concussion. 2023 Jan 17;7(4):CNC99. doi: 10.2217/cnc-2022-0005. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Authors

Catherine Willmott^{1

2}, Jonathan Reyes^{1

2}, Jack V K Nguyen¹, Andrew McIntosh^{3

4

5}, Jennifer Makovec-Knight¹, Michael Makdissi^{6

7}, Patrick Clifton⁸, Peter Harcourt⁸, Biswadev Mitra^{9

10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Turner Institute for Brain & Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
² Monash-Epworth Rehabilitation Research Centre, Epworth Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
³ McIntosh Consultancy and Research, Sydney, Australia.
⁴ Monash University Accident Research Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁵ School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Australia.
⁶ Florey Institute of Neuroscience & Mental Health, Austin Campus, Melbourne Brain Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
⁷ Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
⁸ Australian Football League, Melbourne, Australia.
⁹ National Trauma Research Institute, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
¹⁰ Emergency & Trauma Centre, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
¹¹ Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

Abstract

Aim: To explore soft-shell padded headgear (HG) use, player behavior and injuries associated with HG in junior Australian football.

Methods: Prospective case-crossover with head impact measurement, injury surveillance and video review.

Results: 40 players (mean age: 12.43 years, standard deviation: 1.36) across 15 matches were observed. Frequency of head/neck (p = 0.916) or body (p = 0.883) contact events, and match incidents were similar between HG and no HG conditions. Without HG, females had higher frequency of body contacts compared with males (p = 0.015). Males sustained more body contacts with HG than without HG (p = 0.013).

Conclusion: Use of HG in junior football was not associated with injury or head contact rate. Associations between HG use and body contact may differ across sexes. (ID: ACTRN12619001165178).

Keywords: behavior; headgear; injury surveillance; mild traumatic brain injury; sport-related concussion; youth football.