Women’s lacrosse is an ‘incidental contact’ sport meaning that intentional contact with an opponent is not permitted by the game’s rules. Despite this, women’s lacrosse played at the high school and collegiate varsity levels of competition carry a risk of repetitive head impact exposure and sport-related concussion. Head impact exposure at the collegiate club level of women’s lacrosse has not yet been described.
PURPOSE: To characterize the anticipated and observed incidence of head impacts in women’s collegiate club lacrosse.
METHODS: Experienced women’s collegiate club lacrosse players (n=10) filled out questionnaires reporting how often they sustained head impacts (per game exposure) during the past year. Headband-mounted head impact sensors were worn by athletes (n=11) during eight collegiate club lacrosse games sanctioned by the Western Women’s Lacrosse League. The sensors reported the peak linear acceleration (PLA) and peak rotational acceleration (PRA) associated with each recorded accelerative event. Head impacts were confirmed by two researchers independently reviewing competition video time-synced with sensors. Video review was also used to determine the mechanisms of confirmed impacts.
RESULTS: Athletes had a median 4 (range: 0.25 - 8) years of lacrosse experience and expected to sustain a median 0 (range: 0 - 3) head impacts per game. 75 accelerative events were recorded by the head impact sensors across 81 total game exposures. Six head impacts were confirmed using video and 69 accelerative events were rejected as false positives. Confirmed impacts had a median PLA of 21.0 g (range: 18.3 g - 48.3 g) and PRA of 1.1 krad/s² (range: 0.7 krad/s² - 5.7 krad/s²). Four impacts resulted from contact with an opponent’s body and two impacts resulted from contact with an opponent’s stick. Only one head impact incurred a penalty against the opposing player.
CONCLUSIONS: Athletes anticipate and sustain infrequent head impacts in women’s collegiate club lacrosse relative to lacrosse and contact sports played at the high school and collegiate varsity levels of competition. Those impacts that are sustained are of relatively low magnitude. Head impact sensors are prone to high false positive rates and the use of video recordings to filter sensor data is necessary.