Sports Sciences Commons^™

Cervical Muscle Strength And Kinematics During An Unanticipated Perturbation In University Aged Male And Female Rugby Athletes, Abigail Ruppert, Lauren J. Lattimer

Journal for Sports Neuroscience

Introduction: Female athletes participating in contact sports demonstrate a concussion injury risk factor that is two times greater than their age-matched male counterparts. Recent literature has outlined the importance of neck muscle strength and neuromuscular characteristics in the mitigation of excessive head kinematics. Rugby is a contact sport in which tackles comprise the mechanism for concussion, which is caused by inertial impacts. Females exhibit higher measurements of acceleration and investigating potential gender differences in dynamic stabilization of the head is warranted in rugby. Methods: Twenty-three (15 female, 8 male) university-aged rugby athletes participated in kinematic analysis; and a series of …