Head impacts in university-level varsity cheerleading athletes: an exploratory study
Emilie Croteau, Eric Wagnac, Juliette Gallant, Audrey-Anne Binet, Maée Camara, Laurie-Ann Corbin-Berrigan

TL;DR
This study explores head impacts in university-level cheerleading athletes, revealing the frequency and intensity of such impacts.
Contribution
The study provides new data on head impacts in cheerleading, a non-contact sport dominated by females.
Findings
Cheerleading athletes experienced an average of 1.93 impacts per practice session.
The highest recorded head impact rate was 6.07 impacts per hour of cheerleading activity.
Mean linear and rotational accelerations of impacts were 14.72 ± 19.43 g and 804.71 ± 208.84 rad/s², respectively.
Abstract
Non-contact female dominant sports such as cheerleading are widely understudied when it comes to head kinematics and impacts. Increased knowledge could help address the current male-dominant literature and reduce sex-based disparities in research. This expanded understanding would also improve knowledge about the physiological effects of head impacts, including concussions, in women. The objective of this study was to characterize head impact (quantity and intensity) impacts in mixed biological sex cheerleading throughout the course of four regular season practices. A total of 23 university-level cheerleading athletes (17 females, 6 males) with a mean age of 21.70 ± 2.03 and 4.87 ± 4.59 years of cheerleading experience were included. A total of 89 impacts over the spend of four practices were compiled. The highest number of recorded head impacts for any athlete over the course of the…
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Taxonomy
TopicsTraumatic Brain Injury Research · Sport Psychology and Performance · Sports injuries and prevention
