Item Details

title

METHODS OF ANALYZING HEAD KINEMATICS IN COMBAT AND ARTISTIC SPORTS

author

Pritchard, Nicholas Stewart

abstract

Concussions are a common and severe injury in sport that largely occur from player to player contact within contact sports, but may also occur from falls and collisions with objects that occur commonly in artistic sports. Understanding the kinematics of the head during various sporting activities can help to elucidate high-risk activities, leading to targeted injury prevention strategies. The lack of current research on head impact kinematics within combat and artistic sports is concerning given that some of these sports may underestimate their risk for sustaining injury. Within combat sports, such as Muay Thai, fighters are not required to wear protective head gear despite research showing that head injury rates are similar to those of other combat sports. Within artistic gymnastics, gymnasts perform a variety of preparatory movements that require them to land from height onto their back and head. With the development of advanced head impact sensor technologies, it is possible to measure the kinematics of the head in non-helmeted sports, allowing researchers to better understand high-risk activities in these sports. This motivated the current thesis to develop a foundational framework for measuring and analyzing head impact kinematics and head impact exposure in Muay Thai and women’s artistic gymnastics.

subject

Concussion

Gymnastics

Head Impact Exposure

Head Impact Sensor

Muay Thai

contributor

Stitzel, Joel D (committee chair)

Urban, Jillian E (committee member)

Lintner, Laura J (committee member)

date

2020-05-29T08:36:14Z (accessioned)

2020 (issued)

degree

Biomedical Engineering (discipline)

embargo

2025-05-18 (terms)

2025-05-18 (liftdate)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/96866 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

type

Thesis