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Int J Sports Med 2020; 41(09): 616-627
DOI: 10.1055/a-1141-3553
Orthopedics & Biomechanics

Age of First Exposure to Soccer Heading and Sensory Reweighting for Upright Stance

Jaclyn B. Caccese 
1   School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, United States
,
Fernando V. Santos
2   Bertec Corporation, Columbus, United States
,
Felipe Yamaguchi
3   College of Health Sciences, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, University of Delaware, Newark, United States
,
John J. Jeka
3   College of Health Sciences, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, University of Delaware, Newark, United States
› Author Affiliations Funding: This study was supported by the NIH-NINDS R01 (NS102157–01) grant, “Behavioral- and bio-markers of subconcussion with controlled human head impact.”
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Abstract

US Soccer eliminated soccer heading for youth players ages 10 years and younger and limited soccer heading for children ages 11–13 years. Limited empirical evidence associates soccer heading during early adolescence with medium-to-long-term behavioral deficits. The purpose of this study was to compare sensory reweighting for upright stance between college-aged soccer players who began soccer heading ages 10 years and younger (AFE ≤ 10) and those who began soccer heading after age 10 (AFE > 10). Thirty soccer players self-reported age of first exposure (AFE) to soccer heading. Sensory reweighting was compared between AFE ≤ 10 and AFE > 10. To evaluate sensory reweighting, we simultaneously perturbed upright stance with visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive stimulation. The visual stimulus was presented at two different amplitudes to measure the change in gain to vision, an intra-modal effect; and change in gain to galvanic vestibular stimulus (GVS) and vibration, both inter-modal effects. There were no differences in gain to vision (p=0.857, η2=0.001), GVS (p=0.971, η2=0.000), or vibration (p=0.974, η2=0.000) between groups. There were no differences in sensory reweighting for upright stance between AFE ≤ 10 and AFE > 10, suggesting that soccer heading during early adolescence is not associated with balance deficits in college-aged soccer players, notwithstanding potential deficits in other markers of neurological function

Key words

concussion - subconcussion - balance - postural control - neurodevelopment

Appendix 1



Publication History

Received: 00 00 2020

Accepted: 09 March 2020

Article published online:
04 May 2020

© Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Stuttgart · New York

 

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