" Acute Brain Changes After Repetitive Headers in Soccer and the Effects of a Protective Device "

Summary

Soccer, the most popular sport in the world, exposes players to repeated head impacts and concussions, due to contact with another player or with the ground. Moreover, routine game-play in soccer involves intentional and repeated head impacts through ball "heading", with frequent high velocities, which might cause a transient brain dysfunction. In this pre-post prospective interventional study, 22 soccer players will perform 10 headers from machine-projected soccer balls at standardized speeds, modelling routine soccer practice. They will perform heading series in 2 different oral conditions, on different days at least 1 week apart: 1) Without mouthguard and tight jaws ; 2) With mouthguard and tight jaws. The strength of the neck muscles will be measured before the heading series. The kinematic of the movement will be recorded during each impact during the 2 heading series, as well as the activity of the jaw muscles which will be recorded by electromyogram. Before and after each heading series, electrophysiological data, multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and cognitive computerized assessment will be acquired

Conditions

• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Concussion, Brain

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Heading series

10 headers from machine-projected soccer balls at standardized speeds

DEVICE

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Brain MRI before and after a series

OTHER

Cognitive computerized assessment

Cognitive evaluation carried out with two computerized tools

PROCEDURE

Electrophysiological records

Electrophysiological recording of Motor Evoked Potentials consisting of the application of transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMS) and the collection of muscle activity by electromyogram (EMG)

DEVICE

Dynamometer

Measure of the strength of the neck muscles using a dynamometer

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Hospital, Bordeaux

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Hélène CASSOUDESALLE · University Hospital, Bordeaux

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

25 Years

Sex

MALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-06-04

Primary Completion

2020-10-07

Completion

2021-01-15

Countries

• France

Study Locations