Effect of Impact Mechanism on Head Accelerations in Men's Lacrosse Athletes

Quantifying head impacts is a vital component to understanding and preventing head trauma in sport. Our objective was to establish the frequency and magnitude of head impact mechanisms in men's lacrosse athletes. Eleven male lacrosse athletes wore xPatch sensors during activity. Video footage of practices and games was analyzed to verify impacts and code them with impact mechanisms. The authors calculated incidence rates (IRs) per 1000 exposures with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and used multivariate analysis of variances to compare the linear (g) and rotational (rad/s²) accelerations between mechanisms. A total of 167 head impacts were successfully verified and coded with a mechanism using video footage during 542 total exposures. The highest IR was head to body (IR = 118.08; 95% CI, 89.15-147.01), and the lowest was head to ball (IR = 3.69; 95% CI, 0-8.80) (incidence rate ratio = 32.00; 95% CI, 67.83-130.73). Analysis indicated that impact mechanism failed to significantly alter the combined dependent variables (multivariate F_10,306 = 1.79, P = .06, η² = .06, 1-β = 0.83). While head to head, body to head, and stick to head mechanisms are penalty-inducing offenses in men's lacrosse, head to ground, head to ball, and combination impacts have similar head accelerations. If penalties and rules are created to protect players from traumatic head injury, the authors recommend stricter enforcement.