Item Details

title

The Effect of Tackle Form and Practice Activities on Exposure to Head Acceleration Events in Youth Football

author

Holcomb, Ty Davis

abstract

American football is a popular sport with a large population of youth athletes participating annually. Cumulative exposure and head impact burden as a result from contact and collision in football can result in serious injury and injury risk. Both practice activities and football tackling form have previously been identified as areas for intervention in efforts to reduce head impact burden. A football practice is an amenable environment open to intervention and coaches have direct control over practice activities. A variety of practice drills are currently used by youth football coaches to instruct athlete technique and development. A football tackle is a complex combination of physical movements requiring an athlete to engage their entire body to properly halt the momentum of an opposing athlete and bring them to the ground. Athletes must execute a proper tackle to maximize the safety of all athletes involved in a collision. The primary objectives of this study are to evaluate differences in head impact exposure between five youth football teams (two control and two intervention) and to study the relationship between practice activities and football tackle form as they relate to head impact biomechanics.

subject

American football

Biomechanics

Head acceleration

Head kinematics

Intervention

Tackling form

contributor

Urban, Jillian E (advisor)

Bullock, Garrett S (committee member)

Miles, Christopher M (committee member)

Nicholson, Kristen F (committee member)

McGinnis, Ryan S (committee member)

Stitzel, Joel D (committee member)

date

2025-06-24T08:36:40Z (accessioned)

2025 (issued)

degree

Biomedical Engineering (discipline)

embargo

2030-05-17 (terms)

2030-05-17 (liftdate)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/111053 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

type

Dissertation