Reducing Head Impact Exposure in Hawaii High School Football

NCT ID: NCT04020874

Last Updated: 2023-12-05

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

496 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2019-07-22

Study Completion Date

2023-01-25

Brief Summary

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This three-year study will determine the effectiveness of a helmetless tackling training intervention to decrease head impact exposure in Hawaiian high school football players.

Detailed Description

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High school football participants are reported to sustain an average of 600, and as many as 2000, head impacts in a single season. Impacts to the top and front of the helmet generate the greatest forces, and thus pose the highest risk for acute brain and spinal cord injury. Equally disconcerting is the potential relationship between the accumulation of concussive and sub-concussive impacts (head impact exposure, HIE) and the risk for developing long-term conditions such as cognitive impairment, early-onset Alzheimer's, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Tackling and blocking behaviors using the head as the point of first contact can be attributed, in part, to the fact that players wear a helmet, which influences behavior by increasing the perception of safety.

The central hypothesis is such that a football player who regularly practices tackling and blocking drills without a helmet in a controlled environment will naturally leave the head out of contact and is likely to continue to do so while wearing the helmet during games and full-contact practices. This learned motor behavior will reduce the number of head impacts a football player experiences throughout their playing career and thus reduces the risk of acute and chronic head and neck injury.

The investigation will be a pre-test, post-test quasi experimental design using an evidence-based helmetless tackling and blocking program (HuTT®) with football players (\~200) recruited from high school football teams in Oahu, Hawaii.

Year 1 will serve as a baseline and entail collecting only head impact data during regular football participation for two teams. After adding a third team for years 2 and 3, all subjects will then undergo the HuTT® Program intervention emphasizing proper tackling and blocking techniques under closely supervised drills where players participate without their helmets and shoulder pads in place.

From the outset, subjects will use a new Speedflex helmet outfitted with the InSite™ head impact sensor (Riddell, Co). The helmet and sensor will be worn in all practices and games and used to record head impact exposure (frequency, location, and magnitude). ImPACT tests will be conducted at pre- and post-season intervals to measure verbal and visual memory composite, visual motor speed composite, reaction time composite and symptoms scores. In addition, player self-efficacy for head-safe behavior will be scored each year using a self-reported survey.

A between-subjects ANOVAs will be used to compare outcome measures among teams. Significant interactions and main effects will be identified by appropriate t-tests with Bonferonni corrections at an alpha-level of 0.05.

Conditions

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Head Trauma Cognitive Change Confidence, Self Sports Injuries in Children

Keywords

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concussion tackle youth sports

Study Design

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Allocation Method

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

pre-test, post-test, quasi-experimental
Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Investigators
statistician

Study Groups

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Baseline

Year 1, no intervention to generate baseline, comparative data for subsequent years

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

HuTT-2x

The HuTT® program emphasizes proper tackling and blocking techniques using a progressive series of closely supervised drills. Skill rehearsal is done without helmets and shoulder pads and is the inherent element of HuTT® in order to reinforce behaviors which remove the head as a point of contact. The HuTT® program is modeled after basic tackling/blocking drills familiar to the sport of football. Feedback to confirm or correct proper skill development is provided by coaches trained in the HuTT® technique. HuTT® drills are conducted at an intensity of 50-75% effort and over a period of approximately 10 minutes. The intervention will be conducted 2 times each week throughout the regular season.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

HuTT-2x

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

tackling and blocking training twice/week

HuTT-4x

The HuTT® program emphasizes proper tackling and blocking techniques using a progressive series of closely supervised drills. Skill rehearsal is done without helmets and shoulder pads and is the inherent element of HuTT® in order to reinforce behaviors which remove the head as a point of contact. The HuTT® program is modeled after basic tackling/blocking drills familiar to the sport of football. Feedback to confirm or correct proper skill development is provided by coaches trained in the HuTT® technique. HuTT® drills are conducted at an intensity of 50-75% effort and over a period of approximately 10 minutes. The intervention will be conducted 4 times each week throughout the regular season.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

HuTT-4x

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

tackling and blocking training four times/week

Interventions

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HuTT-2x

tackling and blocking training twice/week

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

HuTT-4x

tackling and blocking training four times/week

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* be a member on one (junior varsity or varsity) of the participant schools' interscholastic football teams

Exclusion Criteria

* none
Minimum Eligible Age

14 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

19 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Gary O. Galiher Foundation

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Hawaii

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Michigan

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Children's National Research Institute

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Massachusetts, Lowell

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Erik Swartz

Professor and Department Chair

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Erik Swartz

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Massachussetts Lowell

Locations

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University of Hawaii at Manoa

Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

Other Identifiers

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HuTT808

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id