OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine whether American football players receiving heads up (HU) training would display a lower rate of sport-related concussion (SRC) compared to those without HU training.
DESIGN: Prospective cohort. SETTING: Scholastic football fields. PATIENTS: Two thousand five hundred fourteen scholastic football players during the 2015 to 2016 football season were monitored throughout the football season. INTERVENTIONS: Before the preseason, 1 coach from 14 schools received HU training from US football. These schools were matched with 10 control schools performing standard football training [non-heads up (NHU)]. Random monitoring for proper coaching instruction was performed during the season. School athletic trainers monitored injuries and return to sport over the season for all schools. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The outcome measures of concussions and associated time loss were determined before data collection began. Injury incidence and rate ratios were calculated to determine program effectiveness.
RESULTS: During the season, football players sustained 117 concussions (HU = 75; NHU = 42). The HU players displayed a significantly lower concussion rate (4.1 vs 6.0/100 players) compared with NHU teams [rate ratio = 1.5; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.1-5.4]. The HU group returned to full participation 27% faster than athletes in the NHU group [time loss: 18.2 days (95% CI, 15.8-20.6) vs 24.8 days (95% CI, 19.9-29.7)], respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to evaluate the impact of the HU program on the incidence of SRC in high school football players. Our data demonstrated that the HU program reduced SRC rates by 33% supporting the use of US HU football training as an effective method to decrease the rate of SRCs in scholastic football. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This study is the first to prospectively explore the effect of HU training on the incidence and recovery from SRC in high school football players.