Characterizing Head Impact Exposure in Men and Women During Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.

BACKGROUND

The accumulation of subconcussive impacts has been implicated in permanent neurological impairment. A gap in understanding the relationship between head impacts and neurological function is the lack of precise characterization and quantification of forces that individuals experience during sports training and competition.

PURPOSE

To characterize impact exposure during training and competition among male and female athletes participating in boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) via an instrumented custom-fit Impact Monitoring Mouthguard (IMM).

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.

METHODS

Twenty-three athletes (n = 4 women) were provided a custom-fit IMM. The IMM monitored impacts during sparring and competition. All training and competition sessions were videotaped. Video and IMM data were synchronized for post hoc data verification of true positives and substantiation of impact location. IMM data were collected from boxing and MMA athletes at a collaborating site. For each true-positive impact, peak linear acceleration and peak angular acceleration were calculated. Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to evaluate potential differences in sport, activity type, and sex with respect to each outcome. Differences in impact location were assessed via Kruskal-Wallis tests.

RESULTS

IMM data were collected from 53 amateur training sessions and 6 competitions (session range, 5-20 minutes). A total of 896 head impacts (men, n = 786; women, n = 110) were identified using IMM data and video verification: 827 in practice and 69 during competition. MMA and boxers experienced a comparable number of impacts per practice session or competition. In general, MMA impacts produced significantly higher peak angular acceleration than did boxing impacts (

CONCLUSION

Characteristic profiles of head impact exposure differed between boxing and MMA athletes; however, the impact magnitudes were not significantly different for male and female athletes.

Informations de copyright

© The Author(s) 2021.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

One or more of the authors has declared the following potential conflict of interest or source of funding: Funding for this study was received by A.B. from the Federal Aviation Administration (grant 13-P-022). S.S. owns stock in Prevent Biometrics and is an investor of the technology, owned by Cleveland Clinic and licensed by Prevent Biometrics. A.B. received grants from the US Department of Defense (DoD Cooperative Agreement W81XWH-17-1-0019) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH 1R43NS076102-01A1, NIH R41HD079158-01A1, NIH 2R44NS076102-02A1) during the conduct of the study in addition to personal fees from Prevent Biometrics and other support from Cleveland Clinic. In addition, A.B. has patents with royalties paid to Prevent Biometrics (US 9149227 B2, US 9289176 B2, US 9044198 B2, and US 9585619 B2) and patents pending (14/726,853, 15/432,107, 62/760,117, 62/760,512, and 19308-X-8-US-P1). AOSSM checks author disclosures against the Open Payments Database (OPD). AOSSM has not conducted an independent investigation on the OPD and disclaims any liability or responsibility relating thereto.