@article{ref1,
title="Comparison of Indiana high school football injury rates by inclusion of the USA Football "Heads Up Football" player safety coach",
journal="Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine",
year="2016",
author="Kerr, Zachary Y. and Dalton, Sara L. and Roos, Karen G. and Djoko, Aristarque and Phelps, Jennifer and Dompier, Thomas P.",
volume="4",
number="5",
pages="e2325967116648441-e2325967116648441",
abstract="BACKGROUND: In Indiana, high school football coaches are required to complete a coaching education course with material related to concussion awareness, equipment fitting, heat emergency preparedness, and proper technique. Some high schools have also opted to implement a player safety coach (PSC). The PSC, an integral component of USA Football's Heads Up Football (HUF) program, is a coach whose primary responsibility is to ensure that other coaches are implementing proper tackling and blocking techniques alongside other components of the HUF program. <br><br>PURPOSE: To compare injury rates in Indiana high school football teams by their usage of a PSC or online coaching education only. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. <br><br>METHODS: Athletic trainers (ATs) evaluated and tracked injuries at each practice and game during the 2015 high school football season. Players were drawn from 6 teams in Indiana. The PSC group, which used the PSC component, was comprised of 204 players from 3 teams. The &quot;education only&quot; group (EDU), which utilized coaching education only, was composed of 186 players from 3 teams. Injury rates and injury rate ratios (IRRs) were reported with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). <br><br>RESULTS: During 25,938 athlete-exposures (AEs), a total of 149 injuries were reported, of which 54 (36.2%) and 95 (63.8%) originated from the PSC and EDU groups, respectively. The practice injury rate was lower in the PSC group than the EDU group (2.99 vs 4.83/1000 AEs; IRR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.40-0.95). The game injury rate was also lower in the PSC group than the EDU group (11.37 vs 26.37/1000 AEs; IRR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.25-0.74). When restricted to concussions only, the rate was lower in the PSC group (0.09 vs 0.73/1000 AEs; IRR, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.01-0.94), although only 1 concussion was reported in the PSC group. No differences were found in game concussion rates (0.60 vs 4.39/1000 AEs; IRR, 0.14; 95% CI, 0.02-1.11). <br><br>CONCLUSION: Findings support the PSC as an effective method of injury mitigation in high school football. Future research should seek to replicate this study using larger samples from additional states.  Keywords: American football; <p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2325-9671",
doi="10.1177/2325967116648441",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2325967116648441"
}