Research with NC Fusion Soccer Helps Make Youth Sports Safer
Can research make sports safer? Biomedical engineering researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine have been studying head impacts in youth sports for more than 12 years to discover what is possible.
In 2016, they started working with NC Fusion to collect head impact exposure data in youth soccer and have followed over 70 athletes from 11 teams over seven playing seasons from soccer clubs in the greater Winston-Salem, N.C., area.
“Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist has been an incredible partner for NC Fusion in helping us fulfill our mission,” says Scott Wollaston, CEO of NC Fusion. “From the innovation and pioneering side of concussion research that we’ve been able to participate in, to the top-notch athletic trainer services that have been provided to our athletes, and to the overall health-based educational opportunities that improve the quality of our players’ and families’ lives, we are so thankful for the support of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist at NC Fusion.”
While following a team during a season, a member of the research team attends each practice and game. At the beginning of each session, the member of the research team activates and distributes custom-made mouthpieces with sensors to each athlete in the study. The sensors automatically detect, and record head impacts experienced on the field.
During the season, the researcher records any relevant additional information about events occurring on the field. At the end of each season, players return their mouthpieces to the researcher, and they download all the recorded data and review and process it in the lab.
As the study team has done in their previous youth sports research, they use the information they collect to answer specific research questions they might have about how techniques and practice skills might be modified to reduce head impact exposure. They also analyze variations of impacts, such as how header magnitudes during corner kick drills compare to other types of drills.
They then combine the data recorded by the mouthpieces with other computational tools to learn more about what is happening to the brain during these impacts. For example, they can use the head motion data recorded by the mouthpieces to simulate the impact using a computer model of the head and brain to estimate how much the brain is moving or stretching during the impact.
“Our collaborative work with NC Fusion will include further engagement with parents, coaches and organizational leaders to translate our research findings into practical strategies that improve the safety and health benefits of soccer,” says Jillian Urban, MS ’12, PhD ’15, MPH, assistant professor of biomedical engineering.
