Association between Muscle Damage and Head Impacts in High School
                    American Football

Megan E. Huibregtse; Steven W. Zonner; Keisuke Ejima; Zachary W. Bevilacqua; Sharlene D. Newman; Jonathan T. Macy; Keisuke Kawata

doi:10.1055/a-1021-1735

International Journal of Sports Medicine, Table of Contents

Int J Sports Med 2020; 41(01): 36-43
DOI: 10.1055/a-1021-1735

Clinical Sciences

Association between Muscle Damage and Head Impacts in High School American Football

Megan E. Huibregtse

¹Department of Kinesiology, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, United States

,

Steven W. Zonner

²Department of Sports Medicine, Washington Township Medical Foundation, Union City, United States

,

Keisuke Ejima

³Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, United States

,

Zachary W. Bevilacqua

¹Department of Kinesiology, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, United States

,

Sharlene D. Newman

⁴Departments of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, United States

⁵Program in Neuroscience, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, United States

,

Jonathan T. Macy

⁶Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, United States

,

Keisuke Kawata

¹Department of Kinesiology, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, United States

⁵Program in Neuroscience, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, United States

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Subconcussive head impacts (SHI), defined as impacts to the cranium that do not result in concussion symptoms, are gaining traction as a major public health concern. The contribution of physiological factors such as physical exertion and muscle damage to SHI-dependent changes in neurological measures remains unknown. A prospective longitudinal study examined the association between physiological factors and SHI kinematics in 15 high school American football players over one season. Players wore a sensor-installed mouthguard for all practices and games, recording frequency and magnitude of all head impacts. Serum samples were collected at 12 time points (pre-season, pre- and post-game for five in-season games, and post-season) and were assessed for an isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK-MM) primarily found in skeletal muscle. Physical exertion was estimated in the form of excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) from heart rate data captured during the five games. Mixed-effect regression models indicated that head impact kinematics were significantly and positively associated with change in CK-MM but not EPOC. There was a significant and positive association between CK-MM and EPOC. These data suggest that when examining SHI, effects of skeletal muscle damage should be considered when using outcome measures that may have an interaction with muscle damage.

Key words

exercise physiology - subconcussive head impacts, creatine kinase

Full Text

References

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Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material