Citation

Rich AM, Filben TM, Miller LE, Tomblin BT, Van Gorkom AR, Hurst MA, Barnard RT, Kohn DS, Urban JE, Stitzel JD. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University, 575 N. Patterson Avenue, Suite 120, Winston-Salem, NC, 27101, USA. jstitzel@wakehealth.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10439-019-02313-1

PMID

31297724

Abstract

The objective of this study was to develop a mouthpiece sensor with improved head kinematic measurement for use in non-helmeted and helmeted sports through laboratory validation and pilot field deployment in female youth soccer. For laboratory validation, data from the mouthpiece sensor was compared to standard sensors mounted in a headform at the center of gravity as the headform was struck with a swinging pendulum. Linear regression between peak kinematics measured from the mouthpiece and headform showed strong correlation, with r² values of 0.95 (slope = 1.02) for linear acceleration, 1.00 (slope = 1.00) for angular velocity, and 0.97 (slope = 0.96) for angular acceleration. In field deployment, mouthpiece data were collected from four female youth soccer players and time-synchronized with film. Film-verified events (n = 915) were observed over 9 practices and 5 games, and 632 were matched to a corresponding mouthpiece event. This resulted in an overall sensitivity of 69.2% and a positive predictive value of 80.3%. This validation and pilot field deployment data demonstrates that the mouthpiece provides highly accurate measurement of on-field head impact data that can be used to further study the effects of impact exposure in both helmeted and non-helmeted sports.

Language: en

Keywords

Concussion; Head impact exposure; Head kinematics; Instrumentation; Mouthpiece; Pediatric; Soccer; Subconcussive impacts