Protective Equipment/Athlete Aids Flashcards
What are the two types of protective equipment?
- Equipment surrounding the athlete: mats, foam, padding
2. Equipment worn by the athlete to minimise harm and reduce injury risks (incidence and severity)
What injuries are helmets designed to protect?
o Head injuries: TBI (concussion), blunt trauma (I.e. epidural haematoma), skull fracture
o Neck and cervical spine injuries
o Head lacerations/ open wounds, facial injuries
o Death
What is the evidence regarding helmet use?
o Reduced head injury risk by 29% - (Hagel et al, 2005)
o Systematic reviews/ Meta-analyses concluded safety helmets decreased the risk and severity of head injuries by roughly 40%, without increasing risk of neck injuries or risk-taking behaviour
Not all studies demonstrated decreased risk of severity
What are ways protective equipment has impacted rules and policy?
Helmets
AUS ski Area Association
- Helmets mandatory for all children participating in any ski/snowboard school lesson or season program
What is the evidence regarding scrum caps?
- Relative risk of concussion for participants showed no effect of intervention
- Relative risk of superficial head injury significant risk reduction
What is the belief of scrum caps around community of players
- 67% of youth players felt more confident and able to tackle harder when wearing scrum caps
- 16% of senior players who believed scrum caps protected against concussion were four times more likely to play aggressively
What is the evidence regarding a well-fitted mouthguard?
o Field hockey – Vucic et al, 2016
Those with mouthguards had more lip cuts but less broken/chipped teeth
o American football Viano et al 2012)
Mouthguards found to reduce forces through TMJ and teeth during impacts
What are Hi-Tech Mouth Guards?
Mouthgaurds that can detect concussion causing impacts in real time
- g-force
- acceleration
- location
What are reasons why mouth guards aren’t worn?
- Not required to
- Cannot breathe or talk
Recall another protective equipment?
How does it reduce the risk of injury in sport?
What injuries do they potentially prevent?
What is current use?
What is evidence?
Shin guards
- To prevent lower leg lacerations, contusions, fracture?
- Currently mandatory for use by FIFA since 1990
- Evidence supporting reduction in force generated through lower legs, and effective at preventing lacerations and contusion
- Fractures may still ocure
Tatar 2014
What is the rationale behind cold water baths/ cold water immersion?
- Lowers tissue temperature
- Promotes local vasoconstriction
- Analgesic
- Hydrostatic pressure
- Placebo
Evidence for cold water immersion?
Dupuy 2018 SR
- Significant effect on DOMs and fatigue, and creatine kinase CK
What is the rationale and impact of cold chambers?
- -100degrees for 2-4 mins
- No supporting evidence
What is the rationale behind compression garments/
Promotes blood flow back to heart
What is the evidence of compression garments?
Dupuy et al 2018
Compression garments significant impact on DOMs and RPE
No sig changes to objective markers
