Strains in Regions of the Brain Modelled from Female Youth Soccer Players Performing Purposeful Headers in Season
Abstract
Soccer is the world's most popular sport, and intentional heading of the ball is exclusive to it. Head impacts in youth players are riskier than adults as their brains are developing. Finite element models can quantify parameters, like strains within regions of the brain, that are otherwise difficult to assess. The purpose of this stay was to examine the relationship between head kinematics collected by wireless head impact sensors and brain strains in regions of interest related to concussion. As well, we assessed head impact strains in regions of interest related to concussion for headers from various game scenarios. In conclusion, the findings of this thesis showed that maximum principal strain increases in relation to linear acceleration and angular velocity, though the strength of relationships ranged between the kinematic parameters and the different regions of the brain. As well, game scenarios are important to the magnitude of max strains.