Development, Validation and Pilot Field Deployment of a Custom Mouthpiece for Head Impact Measurement

• Published in: Annals of biomedical engineering Vol. 47; no. 10; pp. 2109 - 2121
• Main Authors: Rich, Andrea M., Filben, Tanner M., Miller, Logan E., Tomblin, Brian T., Van Gorkom, Aaron R., Hurst, Michael A., Barnard, Ryan T., Kohn, Dena S., Urban, Jillian E., Stitzel, Joel D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-10-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Accelerometry - instrumentation; Angular acceleration; Angular velocity; Biochemistry; Biological and Medical Physics; Biomechanical Phenomena; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Biomedicine; Biophysics; Center of gravity; Classical Mechanics; Equipment Design; Female; Head - physiology; Humans; Kinematics; Laboratories; Mouth Protectors; Pendulums; Pilot Projects; Reproducibility of Results; Soccer; Soccer - physiology; Special Issue on the NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium Research; Sports; Telemetry - instrumentation; Time synchronization; Head kinematics; Head impact exposure; Mouthpiece; Concussion; Soccer; Instrumentation; Subconcussive impacts; Pediatric
• ISSN: 0090-6964; 1573-9686
• DOI: 10.1007/s10439-019-02313-1

The objective of this study was to develop a mouthpiece sensor with improved head kinematic measurement for use in non-helmeted and helmeted sports through laboratory validation and pilot field deployment in female youth soccer. For laboratory validation, data from the mouthpiece sensor was compared to standard sensors mounted in a headform at the center of gravity as the headform was struck with a swinging pendulum. Linear regression between peak kinematics measured from the mouthpiece and headform showed strong correlation, with
r
2
values of 0.95 (slope = 1.02) for linear acceleration, 1.00 (slope = 1.00) for angular velocity, and 0.97 (slope = 0.96) for angular acceleration. In field deployment, mouthpiece data were collected from four female youth soccer players and time-synchronized with film. Film-verified events (
n
= 915) were observed over 9 practices and 5 games, and 632 were matched to a corresponding mouthpiece event. This resulted in an overall sensitivity of 69.2% and a positive predictive value of 80.3%. This validation and pilot field deployment data demonstrates that the mouthpiece provides highly accurate measurement of on-field head impact data that can be used to further study the effects of impact exposure in both helmeted and non-helmeted sports.