Jolts, bumps and impacts on a head play significant role
in athletes’ health, wellbeing and performance
Frequent jolts, bumps and impacts on a head occur in multiple sports, at all levels, and affect all genders and age groups. Make no mistake, they are not “a dedicated challenge” for few sports like American Football, boxing, ice-hockey and rugby. Sports like football (soccer), basketball, handball, floorball, cycling, skating, scooting, equestrian sports, Alpine sports, motor sports and many more are also very much affected. These jolts, bumps and impacts on a head cause it to move, which makes brain to move, rotate or twist within the skull, causing shear forces and potentially damaging brain tissue. Gears like helmets and mouth guards will not solve the problem, they are not placed between the brain and the skull. More actions are needed.
How to make sports brain safer and healthier?
Manage these things on all athletes across their whole athlete pathway:
1. Decrease MAGNITUDE of impacts and forces acting on a head.
2. Decrease NUMBER of impacts and forces acting on a head.
3. Decrease FREQUENCY and reduce PROXIMITY of impacts and forces acting on a head.
Data from ACT Head Impact Tracker will help you to do it.
ACT Head Impact Tracker
Easy to use, simple, universal, versatile and affordable measuring and tracking device for impacts and forces acting on a head while doing sports. The data makes invisible and intangible into visible and tangible, and gives it objective, easy to understand numeric format that can used to develop, take, follow compliancy and validate measures to improve athlete brain health, safety and wellbeing in short, medium and long term.
ACT Head Impact Tracker can help to:
1. Identify potentially hazardous events.2. Track and manage the physical brain load, i.e. number, magnitude, frequency and proximity of impacts and forces acting on a head.
3. Develop, comply and validate the actions taken to manage the load to the brain.
What people say
I want to speak openly about this issue and tell people how I am, so that more people could understand what sport concussions - brain injuries - can cause. I didn’t have a clue about any of this back in the days, and if I did I don’t know if it had changed the way I acted, but I probably at least would have thought twice about doing some of the things I did.
What can you do with the data?
1. Improve decision-making quality and accuracy
Getting objective numeric measurement data on the impacts and forces
acting on a head can help you to better understand what has happened. It
is not always at all clear if the head was impacted, who were affected,
or if there was one or multiple events to it. And it is virtually
impossible to estimate just how violent the impact and forces acting on a
head were. But there and then, when something happens, the decision
must be made by someone (who often is not a medically trained
professional):
a.) “It was probably nothing, right? Get back in there.”
b.) “Maybe you should sit this one out and take it easy for a day or two.”
c.) “Into the locker room, change and go get checked by medical professional.”
d.) “Call an ambulance!”
2. If in doubt, sit them out.
If there is any suspicion or doubt about a brain injury, the individual should be safely removed from the activity immediately. Athletes who may or do experience a brain injury, such as a concussion, should be properly evaluated by medical professionals and should not return to sports until they have been fully recovered, and cleared to doso by a medical professional.
3. Prevention is the key to avoiding Second impact syndrome (SIS).
Second impact syndrome is a rare and extremely dangerous medical condition that can occur when an individual sustains a second brain injury, typically a concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), before fully recovering from a previous brain injury. SIS is most commonly associated with sports-related brain injuries and most commonly seen in young individuals, such as children and teenagers, whose brains are still developing and may be more vulnerable to injury.
4. Decrease the risk of brain injury and brain diseases in short, medium, and long term by decreasing the number, magnitude, frequency and proximity of impacts and forces acting on a head.
Use numeric restrictions, magnitude restrictions, improve techniques, apply relevant physical trainings, adjust trainings and drills, validate effectiveness on action taken, follow up on compliancy and if objectives set are reached.
What people say
Common misconceptions about preventing brain injuries and diseases in sports.
No, it does not. It is not placed between the skull and brain.
Brain trauma is caused by head movement, which makes brain to
move, rotate or twist within the skull, causing shear forces and
potentially damaging brain tissue. Helmets are great in protecting
against skull fractures and soft tissue damage. Many helmets also have
one or more features, such as design and materials to absorb and
distribute impact forces, which can decrease the magnitude of forces
acting on a head and hence help take down the risk of brain injury in
certain types of impacts. Always wear a helmet, but don’t think it
solves the problem. You need to do more.
No, it does not. Mouth guards are designed to protect the teeth, gums, and mouth.
Brain injuries are caused by sudden and forceful head movements, which makes the brain move rapidly within the skull. Mouth guards are not primarily designed to absorb or dissipate the forces associated with such impacts. Do wear a mouth guard to protect your teeth, gums and mouth, but don’t think it solves the problem with
brain trauma. You need to do much more.
Yes, there is. A sudden and severe jolt to the head can cause traumatic brain injury (TBI).
It does not have to be a direct impact. TBIs can result from various types of events including impacts, jolts, falls, blows, and more. The key is the head movement which causes brain to collide with the inside of the skull.
No, it will not. While individual lower magnitude events may not pose a significant risk of brain injury, there is great concern about the cumulative effect of repetitive events over time.
Do technique training less in repetitions, but more in quality. Graphical illustrations and data in ACT Head Impact Tracker App can help you to develop the best techniques in heading,
Yes, they do. Clearly all the athletes will not get injured or permanent damages. But there is just too many who will. The risk should and could be made significantly lower.
Sure the gears have developed and are better now than then. But the game, training and athletes have developed even faster. The scientific facts are not to be over-looked, any one injured is one too many. The junior athletes and their families in sports like football must be able to trust the sports and grass root organizations in them to make everything in their power to keep the athletes safe and promote their health.
Yes, you can do things to prevent brain injuries and diseases. Decrease the number, magnitude, frequency and proximity of impacts and forces acting on a head.
Brain injury does not compare with a twisted ankle. If damage caused in sports only manifests later in life, it is still an issue of sports and should be addressed in sports. It is the only way to improve the health and wellbeing of athletes in short, medium, and long term.
Developed for the athletes
We have been very fortunate to work with the best in class in our development and testing.
Our promise: We continue working hard every day to become ever better in
providing objective, relevant and actionable information on forces
acting on a head.
Your promise: Use the data to proactively improve the health, well-being
and performance of athletes in short, medium and long-term.
