Principal Investigator: Timothy A. McGuine PhD ATC, Senior Scientist (PI)
Institution: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Title: The Effectiveness of Soccer Headgear to Reduce the Incidence or Severity of Sport Related Concussion in Adolescents
Abstract: High school soccer is a very popular sport, with over one million male and female participants annually nationwide. An estimated 87,000 Sport Related Concussions (SRC) occur in U.S. high school soccer athletes each year. Despite the high incidence of SRC in this population, little is known about equipment that is being marketed to players and coaches with claims that it reduces a player’s susceptibility to SRC. There have been no prospective randomized, controlled trials to examine the effect of soccer headgear on the incidence and severity of SRC in high school soccer players. The proposed study will fill this important gap by evaluating the effectiveness of soccer headgear in reducing the risk of SRC in high school adolescent soccer players.
Aims: To determine if protective soccer headgear reduces the incidence or severity of SRC in high school soccer players.
Study Design: Cluster randomized control trial.
Published Results
Title: Does soccer headgear reduce the incidence of sport-related concussion? A cluster, randomised controlled trial of adolescent athletes
Click here for the article on the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) website.
Journal Citation: McGuine T, Post E, Pfaller AY, et al. Does soccer headgear reduce the incidence of sport-related concussion? A cluster, randomised controlled trial of adolescent athletes. British Journal of Sports Medicine. Published Online First: 14 May 2019. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2018-100238.
Abstract: There have been no large randomised controlled trials to determine whether soccer headgear reduces the incidence or severity of sport-related concussion (SRC) in US high school athletes.
Objective: We aimed to determine whether headgear reduces the incidence or severity (days out from soccer) of SRCs in soccer players.
Methods: 2,766 participants (67% female, age 15.6±1.2) (who undertook 3050 participant years) participated in this cluster randomised trial. Athletes in the headgear (HG) group wore headgear during the season, while those in the no headgear (NoHG) group did not. Staff recorded SRC and non-SRC injuries and soccer exposures. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine time-to-SRC between groups, while severity was compared with a Wilcoxon rank-sum test.
Results: 130 participants (5.3% female, 2.2% male) sustained an SRC. The incidence of SRC was not different between the HG and NoHG groups for males (HR: 2.00 (0.63–6.43) p=0.242) and females (HR: 0.86 (0.54– 1.36) p=0.520). Days lost from SRC were not different (p=0.583) between the HG group (13.5 (11.0–018.8) days) and the NoHG group (13.0 (9.0–18.8) days).
Conclusions: Soccer headgear did not reduce the incidence or severity of SRC in high school soccer players.
Trial registration number NCT02850926.