Collegiate Women's Soccer Players Suffer Greater Cumulative Head Impacts Than Their High School Counterparts

Soccer is the source of the highest concussion rates among female athletes and is associated with neurological deficits at many levels of play. Despite its importance to our understanding of head trauma in female athletes, little is known about the number and magnitude of head impacts experienced by female soccer players. Head impacts experienced by high school and collegiate athletes were quantified using xPatch sensors (X2 Biosystems) affixed behind the right ear of each player. The average peak translational acceleration (PTA) sustained by players at the high school level was significantly lower than that of the collegiate players, but the average peak angular accelerations (PAA) were not significantly different. Given that the collegiate players took many more impacts throughout the season, their mean cumulative exposure to translational (cPTA) and angular accelerations (cPAA) were significantly higher than those of the high school players. Additional research is required to determine whether the differences in cumulative exposure are responsible for the elevated risk of concussion in collegiate soccer players or if there are additional risk factors.