Conditional recommendations are made supporting preventive interventions concussion education and rules prohibiting high-risk activity for both pediatric and adult amateur athletes and neck strengthening exercise in adult amateur athletes .
Strong recommendations are supported for head protective equipment in both pediatric and adult amateur athletes .
Strong recommendations regarding newer football helmet technology in adult amateur athletes and rules governing the implementation of body-checking in youth ice hockey are supported .
Background Awareness of the magnitude of contact sports-related concussions has risen exponentially in recent years .
Our objective is to conduct a prospect ively registered systematic review of the scientific evidence regarding interventions to prevent contact sports-related concussions .
Effectiveness of headgear in a pilot study of under 15 rugby union football
Objective —To determine whether protective headgear reduced the incidence of concussion in a pilot study of under 15 rugby union . Methods —Sixteen under 15 rugby union teams were recruited from three interschool competitions in metropolitan Sydney and the adjacent country region . A prospect i ve study was undertaken over a single competitive season . The study had two arms : a headgear arm and a control arm . Headgear wearing rates and injury data were reported to the investigators and verified using spot checks . Results —A total of 294 players participated in the study . There were 1179 player exposures with headgear and 357 without headgear . In the study time frame , there were nine incidences of concussion ; seven of the players involved wore headgear and two did not . There was no significant difference between concussion rates between the two study arms . Conclusions —Although there is some controversy about the desirability of wearing protective headgear in football , this pilot study strongly suggests that current headgear does not provide significant protection against concussion in rugby union at a junior level
Conditional recommendations are made supporting preventive interventions concussion education and rules prohibiting high-risk activity for both pediatric and adult amateur athletes and neck strengthening exercise in adult amateur athletes .
Strong recommendations are supported for head protective equipment in both pediatric and adult amateur athletes .
Strong recommendations regarding newer football helmet technology in adult amateur athletes and rules governing the implementation of body-checking in youth ice hockey are supported .
Background Awareness of the magnitude of contact sports-related concussions has risen exponentially in recent years .
Our objective is to conduct a prospect ively registered systematic review of the scientific evidence regarding interventions to prevent contact sports-related concussions .