HEADING SAFETY RESEARCH
2012 was a busy year for Dr. Trey Crisco, director of the Bioengineering Lab in the Department of Orthopaedics at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown Medical School in Providence. Through a study funded jointly by US Lacrosse and NOCSAE (National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment), Crisco spent much of the year focused on testing and measuring head accelerations from stick checks in girls’ and women’s lacrosse. Ultimately, Crisco’s data could be used to shape the standards on women’s lacrosse headgear, because understanding the unique relationship between head acceleration speeds and resulting head traumas has been a key component in the standards discussion. Head acceleration includes how fast the head moves and then stops after an
impact. It’s a measure associated with brain injuries, including concussions. The importance of this work is not lost on the former collegiate lacrosse player who has also coached girls’ youth lacrosse for 12 years.
“Unlike the boys’ game, where head injuries are dominated by body-to-body or head-to-head contact, in the girls, we don’t see that, but we are seeing the stick impacting the head,” Crisco said. “So the goal of this study was to get an understanding of the relationship between the severity of the stick checks and the resulting head accelerations.” Crisco and his research team spent
fi ve months on product development, design and setup before beginning the data collection phase of the study in July. That process involved bringing female lacrosse players that ranged in age from
Enhance the Lacrosse Experience Improving the on-fi eld experience is a primary focus for US Lacrosse.
We’re working to make the sport better by developing national rules and standards, leading the charge for player safety and providing unmatched educational resources.
20
of the nation’s largest leagues, representing more than
150,000 6,825 19,000
Coaches who have completed Level 1 online educational courses
US L acrosse
Coaching education program
men’s and women’s offi cials who took the new US Lacrosse online tests in 2012 US L acrosse
Officials education program
players, were among the early adopters of USL’s new age-based youth rules.
320,000
Guidebooks distributed to players, parents, coaches and offi cials to help them better understand the rules and reasons behind them.
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