Abstract
Concussion is known to detrimentally affect brain health. Rugby tackles commonly occur with high collision force between tackler and ball carrier, and low impact head contact is not uncommon. Cognitive deficits following a bout of soccer ball heading has been attributed to the impact and termed sub-concussion. Although soccer ball heading studies provide evidence for acute effects of sub-concussion, it is unknown whether this phenomenon occurs following rugby tackles. This study investigates the acute effects of rugby tackles on brain function and balance in rugby players. Twenty-six volunteers were assigned to either the ball carrier (9), tackler (9) or control (8) group. Controls performed running without the tackle. Outcome measures included corticomotor function using transcranial magnetic brain stimulation (TMS) and balance was assessed by a series of tasks performed on a NeuroCom Balance Master before and immediately after a tackle training drill. Following the tackling bout, the cortical silent period (cSP) increased for the tacklers with no change for ball carrier and control groups, and no differences between groups for balance measures were observed. Lengthening of cSP observed in the tacklers following the bout has been reported in studies of concussion and may indicate long term detrimental effects.
Highlights
Head injury in sport has attracted attention among neuroscientists due to the relationship, identified in early research, between concussion and severe neurological impairments [1]
The aim of this study was to investigate the acute effects of impacts from a bout of rugby tackling on brain function using transcranial magnetic brain stimulation (TMS) and balance tests
tackler group (TG), Examples comparedtackling with baseline measurements andincrease no change found for measure the ball carrier group (BG) cortical silent period (cSP)
Summary
Head injury in sport has attracted attention among neuroscientists due to the relationship, identified in early research, between concussion and severe neurological impairments [1]. Due to its physical nature, with players usually tackling from the front while moving in the opposite direction to the ball carrier, rugby union has a high risk of collision-associated injury [3]. The mechanism of injury can be attributed to direct forces, which act on the head and indirect forces acting on the body associated with an abrupt deceleration of the head. Indirect forces are the most common, since tackling usually occurs with the ball carrier and tackler running directly at one another [5,6]. The forces occurring in a tackle can cause movement of the brain within the skull where the brain may impact on the internal surface of the skull, towards the front (coup), and at the back (contrecoup) causing cerebral contusions leading to concussion [7]
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