Collision avoidance behaviors of recently concussed female rugby players with an approaching person

Successful collision avoidance requires individuals to use readily available perceptual information to make decisions and act within their action capabilities. Female varsity rugby players use time-to-collision information to get closer to an obstacle before deviating; however, following a sport-related concussion (SRC), individuals may not be able to use the same strategies due to poorer action boundary perception. The current study examined the effects of a SRC on collision avoidance with an approaching person.

Non-concussed female varsity rugby athletes (ATH, n = 10) and recently concussed but asymptomatic teammates (CONC, n = 3) were instructed to walk at a comfortable pace and avoid colliding with an approaching confederate. Time-to-collision (TTC), rate of medial-lateral (ML) avoidance, and ML spatial requirement were calculated and analyzed using mixed repeated measures ANOVAs.

There were no physical characteristic differences between groups (p < 0.05) and no collisions occurred on any of the trials. However, CONC displayed larger TTC than ATH (p = 0.03), indicative of a more cautious avoidance strategy.

While rugby players are trained to avoid opponents, a more cautious strategy following a SRC may reflect visuomotor detraining and changes in embodiment. This suggests that despite being asymptomatic, there is a reduced sense of agency during dynamic perception-action tasks and persistent alterations between pre-concussion and post-concussion self.