Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 15, 2025
In Vivo Protocol of Controlled Subconcussive Head Impacts for the Validation of Field Study Data
Published on: April 18, 2019
Characterization of head impact exposure in boys' youth ice hockey
Abigail G Swenson1, N Stewart Pritchard2, Logan E Miller3
1Department of Neuroscience, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC, USA.
Abstract:
Ice hockey has one of the highest concussion rates among youth sports. Sensor technology has been implemented in contact and collision sports to inform the frequency and severity of head impacts experienced on-ice. However, existing studies have utilized helmet-mounted sensors with limited accuracy. The objective of this study was to characterize head kinematics of contact events in a sample of youth boys' hockey players using a validated instrumented mouthpiece with improved accuracy. Head kinematics from 892 video-verified events were recorded from 18 athletes across 127 sessions. Median peak resultant linear acceleration, rotational velocity, and rotational acceleration of video-verified events were 7.4 g, 7.7 rad/s, and 576 rad/s2, respectively. Contact events occurred at a higher rate in games (2.48 per game) than practices (1.30 per practice). Scenarios involving head contact had higher peak kinematics than those without head contact. This study improves our understanding of head kinematics in boys' youth hockey.
