Comparing the Incidence of Head Impacts Sustained in Conference versus Non-conference Women’s Soccer Games

Context: Investigating head impacts in women’s soccer has become of increased interest due to women’s soccer having one of the highest concussion injury rates among organized sports. Objective: To determine frequency and magnitude differences in head impacts sustained by collegiate women’s soccer players during conference and non-conference game. Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting: Soccer fields. Participants: 24 intercollegiate women’s soccer players (age=19.65±1.27 years, height=165.80±4.87 cm, mass = 64.45±7.38 kg). Interventions: Game type served as the independent variable (non-conference and conference). We measured frequency and magnitude (peak linear accelerations in g-forces and peak rotational accelerations in deg/sec2) of head impacts with the X2 Biosystems xPatch sensors that participants wore during every practice and game. Main Outcome Measures: Frequency was determined by calculating incidence rates (IRs), incident rates ratio (IRRs), and 95% confidence intervals (CI95).Results: Participants sustained more head impacts during non-conference games (IR=11838.71, CI95= 10627.48-13049.94) compared to conference games (IR= 5153.85, CI95 = 4441.34- 5866.35; IRR = 2.30, CI95=1.93-2.73). Game type did not alter the combined dependent variables (F2,565= 2.00, P=0.45, �2Conclusion: Our findings suggest that collegiate women’s soccer players sustained more head impacts while competing in non-conference games. The higher frequency of head impacts sustained in non-conference contests could be attributed to the players perceiving they can engage in more risky behavior since conference contests determine postseason participation. Keywords: head injury, collegiate, athletes, acceleromete