Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 16, 2025
Revised and Neuroimaging-Compatible Versions of the Dual Task Screen
Published on: October 5, 2020
Collegiate Participation in Repetitive Head Impact Sports Does Not Adversely Affect Gait Dual Task Cost
Thomas A Buckley1, Kristen Williams, Jessie R Oldham
1Author Affiliations: Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, Interdisciplinary Program in Biomechanics and Movement Science University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware (Dr Buckley); Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center, Sports Concussion Research, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee (Ms Williams); Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia (Oldham); Department of Exercise Science, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Hunzinger); Interdisciplinary Program in Biomechanics and Movement Science University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware (Dr Buckley, Gallo, Passalugo, Bryk); College of Health Sciences, Epidemiology Program, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware (Bodt); School of Applied Health Sciences and Wellness, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio (Anderson); and School of Health and Kinesiology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia (Munkasy).
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to assess gait related dual task cost (DTC) changes over the course of a collegiate athletic career in both repetitive head impact (RHI) exposed and non-RHI exposed athletes.
Setting:
University Research Laboratory.
Participants:
We recruited 47 NCAA intercollegiate athletes and grouped by RHI exposed (N = 27) and non-RHI (N = 20) sports.
Design:
Participants completed 5 trials of single task (ST) and 5 trials of dual task (DT) gait with a working memory cognitive challenge both prior to their collegiate athletic careers (pre) and then again after they completed their collegiate athletic careers (post) (mean 1173 ± 341 days between tests) in this prospective longitudinal design. To assess for changes over the course of a career, separate 2 (group: RHI, non-RHI) × 2 (time: pre, post) mixed design ANOVA were performed for each dependent variable of interest (DTC gait velocity and DTC step length) and the model was adjusted for concussion history at the time of test and sex.
Main Measures:
Gait velocity and step length DTC.
Results:
There were no significant group by time interactions for DTC gait velocity (F = 0.517, P = .476, η 2 = 0.012) or DTC step length ((F = 0.206, P = .652, η 2 = 0.005).
Conclusions:
The primary finding of this study indicated no difference between RHI exposed and non-RHI exposed athletes gait DTC performance between the beginning and conclusion of their collegiate athletic careers. While the long-term effects of RHI remain to be fully determined, these results suggest that RHI may not adversely affect ST or DT gait performance when the individual is young.
