Master of Science

thesisRehabilitation professionals are faced with the decision to discharge patients and give clearance to return to work or sport. Their confidence with safe discharge and minimal risk for reinjury are based on a barrage of clinical tests, functional tests, and symptom resolution. Currently, there is not an objectively defined standard return to sport protocol for athletes postmild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI). Research has started to use small wearable inertial sensors to quantify human movement and identify normative ranges for specific movement tasks. This may allow for estimation of kinematic targets for rehabilitation that can be used to complement patient reports. The objective of this study was to examine head kinematics during a hierarchy of movement tasks, covering the spectrum from activities of daily living to agility drills utilizing wearable inertial sensors. The design of this study was a controlled trial performed on adult recreational athletes. Twenty-six healthy participants (12 male and 14 female), aged 18-30 years old, were enrolled in the study. Participants were selected using nonprobability convenience sampling. Each participant completed three trials of Timed-Up-and-Go (TUG), two tasks from the Physical Performance Test (PPT): put on and remove a jacket and 360⁰ turns (which consisted of two trials each), and one trial of the Illinois Agility Test (IAT). A nonparametric Friedman test for differences with repeated measures was completed for velocity and showed significance (ꭓ2 (21) = 48.308, p < 0.001). Significant differences were found with velocity when comparing the 360⁰ turn to the TUG, PPT-Jacket, and IAT (ps ≤ 0.001). In adult recreational athletes, activities of daily living iv tasks and agility tasks can be utilized in a controlled environment to collect data concerning peak velocity and amplitude of head turns