“I go pretty hard in practice, so I want Prior to each practice and home
game, Princeton’s players stop in the training room to see research specialist Tawny Duliba. In about 10 seconds, Duliba uses a small adhesive patch to apply the accelerometer to the backside of the player’s head. After practices and games, players return the units to Duliba, who downloads the data collected from each into a monitoring system and recharges the device for the next day. A typical practice will yield an average
of 40 to 50 impact measurements per player, Duliba said. More intense practices or games have yielded frequencies as high as 100. Video recordings of games and practices supplement the data to match impacts with specifi c incidents. As a former Division I soccer goalie
who was forced to “retire” as a result of too many concussions, Duliba has a keen interest in the project. “Luckily, funding for this type of research
has picked up, because concussions have become a really big thing now,” Duliba said. “Understanding impact may help us eventually better understand what causes the concussion.” As the Princeton athletes have begun
to grasp the science involved, some have become ad hoc assistants in the research. It’s not uncommon for a player to tell Duliba that they “got really rocked” at a certain point during practice and wonder if he or she can check the g-force measurement in the software.
60 LACROSSE MAGAZINE May 2014 >>
to see how those hits are registering,” said Hunter deButts, a senior defensive midfi elder on the men’s squad. “Fortunately, I haven’t had anything that’s been noteworthy.” Dr. Margot Putukian, Princeton’s director of athletic medicine and chair of US Lacrosse’s Sports Science and Safety Committee, is the study’s principal investigator and protocol director. This
spring’s accelerometer
measurements, coupled with lab testing being done by co-investigator Trey Crisco at Brown, are Phase II of the study. Phase I, conducted last fall, included a smaller sampling of athletes to determine the viability of proceeding with the larger study. “We decided to do the study because
we think there’s lots of missing information, in terms of what are the impacts that occur in the sport,” Putukian said. “How many blows to the head are there in a typical college practice? What about in games? There’s very limited research that’s been done in lacrosse.” Putukian noted that lacrosse is
particularly compelling for this type of study because it provides both a difference in gender, as well as differences in the rules and equipment of the men’s and women’s games. US Lacrosse is funding the current
study. Putukian has also received a grant from the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) for a second Princeton study that will begin in the fall, utilizing the same methodology to study impacts in both soccer and lacrosse.
“I’ll fi nd it pretty interesting if the data
shows that there’s not a big difference between the men and the women in terms of frequency, location and amplitude of impacts,” Putukian said. “That’s certainly not what I would expect.” When studying specifi c incidents of concussion, examining factors such as location of the impact may yield as much insight as the magnitude or energy of the force. “As we’re seeing from studies in American football, it’s not always the big hit that causes the injury,” said Putukian, who also serves on the NFL’s Head, Neck & Spine Committee. “Information is power. The more you fi nd out, the better off you are. Using this data to help make the sport safer is certainly one of the primary goals.” A full analysis of the data will commence after the college season. Putukian believes the biggest challenge likely will be marrying game and practice video to the accelerometer data to get a fuller picture of each signifi cant impact. Did it occur during a ground ball? Was it stick-to- head contact or a body check? Understanding the correlation between impacts measured by the sensor and neuropsychological function also will be a goal. She expects the analysis by late summer. Players signed a consent
form prior to the season, so they understood why the study was being conducted and what it entailed. The document warned players that the accelerometers could cause discomfort or inconvenience.
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©KEVIN P. TUCKER; ©X2 BIOSYSTEMS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92