Usefulness of Current Patient-Reported Outcome Scales for ACL Injury: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of Stakeholder-Perceived Utility of Specific Constructs and Items Across the Rehabilitation Timeline.

Background: Numerous patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) have been used in patients with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), often with overlapping constructs of interest and limited content validity. Inefficient scale application increases burden and diminishes overall usefulness for both the patient and practitioner. Purpose: To isolate specific PROM items across a diverse set of constructs that patients and practitioners perceive as having the greatest value at various stages of recovery and return to sport (RTS) in patients after ACLR. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: A combined 77 stakeholders participated in this 2-phase mixed-methods investigation. In phase 1, a total of 27 patients and 21 practitioners selected individual PROM items from various constructs that had the greatest utility or importance. In phase 2, the highest rated items were further tested in a head-to-head comparison with 29 stakeholders who attended the 2022 ACL Injury Research Retreat. In addition to the utility assessment, practitioners answered other questions related to importance and timing of PROM assessments. Results: In phase 1, both patients and practitioners shared the same top item in 6 of the 8 (75%) constructs assessed. In phase 2, the construct of psychological burden was rated as "extremely important" by 59% of respondents, followed by physical function (54%), symptoms (35%), and donor site issues (10%). The PROM items of confidence, perceived likelihood of reinjury, and difficulty stopping quickly were rated by a respective 93%, 89%, and 86% of the sample as either "very useful" or "extremely useful." All constructs except donor site issues were rated by most stakeholders to be absolutely necessary to evaluate treatment progress and RTS readiness at the 6-month postoperative time and at RTS. Conclusion: Overall, psychological burden, with specific items related to confidence and reinjury likelihood, were rated as most important and useful by both patients and practitioners. The second most important and useful PROM item was related to higher intensity function (eg, decelerating or jumping/landing activities during sports).

High magnitude exposure to repetitive head impacts alters female adolescent brain activity for lower extremity motor control.

Contact and collision sport participation among adolescent athletes has raised concerns about the potential negative effects of cumulative repetitive head impacts (RHIs) on brain function. Impairments from RHIs and sports-related concussions (SRC) may propagate into lingering neuromuscular control. However, the neural mechanisms that link RHIs to altered motor control processes remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to isolate changes in neural activity for a lower extremity motor control task associated with the frequency and magnitude of RHI exposure. A cohort of fifteen high school female soccer players participated in a prospective longitudinal study and underwent pre- and post-season functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During fMRI, athletes completed simultaneous bilateral ankle, knee, and hip flexion/extension movements against resistance (bilateral leg press) to characterize neural activity associated with lower extremity motor control. RHI data were binned into continuous categories between 20 g - 120 g (defined by progressively greater intervals), with the number of impacts independently modeled within the fMRI analyses. Results revealed that differential exposure to high magnitude RHIs (≥90 g - < 110 g and ≥ 110 g) was associated with acute changes in neural activity for the bilateral leg press (broadly inclusive of motor, visual, and cognitive regions; all p < 0.05 & z > 3.1). Greater exposure to high magnitude RHIs may impair lower extremity motor control through maladaptive neural mechanisms. Future work is warranted to extend these mechanistic findings and examine the linkages between RHI exposure and neural activity as it relates to subsequent neuromuscular control deficits.

Allograft Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Fails at a Greater Rate in Patients Younger Than 34 Years.

Purpose: To characterize the secondary anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury rates after primary allograft anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) and to identify the age cut-score at which the risk of allograft failure decreases. Methods: All patients who underwent primary ACLR within a single orthopaedic department between January 2005 and April 2020 were contacted at a minimum of 2 years post-ACLR to complete a survey regarding complications experienced post-surgery, activity level, and perceptions of knee health. Patients were excluded for incidence of previous ACLR (ipsilateral or contralateral) and/or age younger than 14 years. Relative proportions were calculated, binary regression analysis was performed, and receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to identify the threshold age for maximal sensitivity and specificity to predict high risk of allograft failure, defined as undergoing revision ACLR. Results: Of the 939 surveys completed, 398 patients underwent primary allograft ACLR (mean age 39.5 years; range 16.0-66.1 years; 54.3% female). The secondary ACL injury rate was 11.6% (5.8% ipsilateral revision ACLR, 5.8% contralateral ACL injury). Male and female patients had similar revision (5.5% male, 6.0% female, P = .82) and contralateral ACL injury rates (6.6% male, 5.1% female, P = .52). Receiver operating characteristic analysis indicated that age ≤34 years was threshold for differentiating high risk of allograft failure (area under the curve 0.65, 95% confidence interval 0.55-0.76; P = .014). Patients aged ≤34 years had a greater secondary injury rate than patients >34 years (20.4% (10.2% revision ACLR, 10.2% contralateral ACL injury) versus 6.9% (3.5% revision ACLR, 3.5% contralateral ACL injury; P < .001). Binary regression analysis demonstrated that decreasing age was associated with increased risk of graft failure (χ2 = 7.9, P = .02.). Conclusions: Allograft ACLR showed similar failure rates between sexes but displayed suboptimal graft failure outcomes in younger and active patients. By age 34 years, the increased revision risk for younger patients diminished. Level of Evidence: Level IV, therapeutic case series.

The effects of sports-related concussion history on female adolescent brain activity and connectivity for bilateral lower extremity knee motor control.

Sports-related concussions (SRCs) are associated with neuromuscular control deficits in athletes following return to play. However, the connection between SRC and potentially disrupted neural regulation of lower extremity motor control has not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to investigate brain activity and connectivity during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) lower extremity motor control task (bilateral leg press) in female adolescent athletes with a history of SRC. Nineteen female adolescent athletes with a history of SRC and nineteen uninjured (without a history of SRC) age- and sport-matched control athletes participated in this study. Athletes with a history of SRC exhibited less neural activity in the left inferior parietal lobule/supramarginal gyrus (IPL) during the bilateral leg press compared to matched controls. Based upon signal change detected in the brain activity analysis, a 6 mm region of interest (seed) was defined to perform secondary connectivity analyses using psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses. During the motor control task, the left IPL (seed) was significantly connected to the right posterior cingulate gyrus/precuneus cortex and right IPL for athletes with a history of SRC. The left IPL was significantly connected to the left primary motor cortex (M1) and primary somatosensory cortex (S1), right inferior temporal gyrus, and right S1 for matched controls. Altered neural activity in brain regions important for sensorimotor integration and motor attention, combined with unique connectivity to regions responsible for attentional, cognitive, and proprioceptive processing, indicate compensatory neural mechanisms may underlie the lingering neuromuscular control deficits associated with SRC.

Brain Activity During Experimental Knee Pain and Its Relationship With Kinesiophobia in Patients With Patellofemoral Pain: A Preliminary Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation.

CONTEXT: The etiology of patellofemoral pain has remained elusive, potentially due to an incomplete understanding of how pain, motor control, and kinesiophobia disrupt central nervous system functioning. OBJECTIVE: To directly evaluate brain activity during experimental knee pain and its relationship to kinesiophobia in patients with patellofemoral pain. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. METHODS: Young females clinically diagnosed with patellofemoral pain (n = 14; 14.4 [3.3] y; body mass index = 22.4 [3.8]; height = 1.61 [0.1] m; body mass = 58.4 [12.7] kg). A modified Clarke test (experimental pain condition with noxious induction via patella pressure and quadriceps contraction) was administered to the nondominant knee (to minimize limb dominance confounds) of patients during brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) acquisition. Patients also completed a quadriceps contraction without application of external pressure (control contraction). Kinesiophobia was measured using the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia. The fMRI analyses assessed brain activation during the modified Clarke test and control contraction and assessed relationships between task-induced brain activity and kinesiophobia. Standard processing for neuroimaging and appropriate cluster-wise statistical thresholds to determine significance were applied to the fMRI data (z > 3.1, P < .05). RESULTS: The fMRI revealed widespread neural activation in the frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes, and cerebellum during the modified Clarke test (all zs > 4.4, all Ps < .04), whereas neural activation was localized primarily to frontal and cerebellar regions during the control contraction test (all zs > 4.4, all Ps < .01). Greater kinesiophobia was positively associated with greater activity in the cerebello-frontal network for the modified Clarke test (all zs > 5.0, all Ps < .01), but no relationships between kinesiophobia and brain activity were observed for the control contraction test (all zs < 3.1, all Ps > .05). CONCLUSIONS: Our novel experimental knee pain condition was associated with alterations in central nociceptive processing. These findings may provide novel complementary pathways for targeted restoration of patient function.

Visual-Spatial Attentional Performance Identifies Lower Extremity Injury Risk in Adolescent Athletes.

OBJECTIVE: Strategies to identify lower extremity musculoskeletal (LEMSK) injury risk have been informed by prospectively identified biomechanical and neuromuscular risk factors. Emergent evidence suggests that cognitive and oculomotor performance may also contribute to LEMSK injury. The purpose of this study was to determine whether prospective cognitive and oculomotor measures identify adolescent athletes who sustain an in-season LEMSK injury. DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal study. SETTINGS: Controlled laboratory and athletic event settings. PARTICIPANTS: Four hundred eighty-eight adolescent male football and female soccer athletes aged 13 to 18 years. ASSESSMENT OF RISK FACTORS: Preseason baseline cognitive and oculomotor performance: Attention Network Task (ANT), cued task switching, King-Devick test, and near point of convergence. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Incidence of LEMSK sprains and strains during a single competitive season. RESULTS: Attention Network Task-orienting network reaction time (RT) was the only cognitive or oculomotor measure significantly associated with LEMSK injury [B = 1.015, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01-1.024, P < 0.01]. Every 10 milliseconds increase in orienting network RT was associated with a 15% increased risk for LEMSK injury. Athletes demonstrating an orienting network RT ≥ 32.8 milliseconds had a higher risk for LEMSK injury relative to athletes below the cut-point (relative risk, 2.62; 95% CI, 1.52-4.52; odds ratio, 3.00; 95% CI, 1.63-5.52). CONCLUSIONS: Deficits in visual-spatial components of attention were associated with 2.62 times greater risk for LEMSK injury in adolescent athletes. The present results add evidence to suggest that visual-spatial attentional processing contributes to LEMSK injury and may supplement previously established LEMSK injury risk assessments.

Does central nervous system dysfunction underlie patellofemoral pain in young females? Examining brain functional connectivity in association with patient-reported outcomes.

Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is defined as retro- or peri-patellar knee pain without a clear structural abnormality. Unfortunately, many current treatment approaches fail to provide long-term pain relief, potentially due to an incomplete understanding of pain-disrupted sensorimotor dysfunction within the central nervous system. The purposes of this study were to evaluate brain functional connectivity in participants with and without PFP, and to determine the relationship between altered brain functional connectivity in association with patient-reported outcomes. Young female patients with PFP (n = 15; 14.3 ± 3.2 years) completed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and patient-reported outcome measures. Each patient with PFP was matched with two controls (n = 30, 15.5 ± 1.4 years) who also completed identical rs-fMRI testing. Six bilateral seeds important for pain and sensorimotor control were created, and seed-to-voxel analyses were conducted to compare functional connectivity between the two groups, as well as to determine the relationship between connectivity alterations and patient-reported outcomes. Relative to controls, patients with PFP exhibited altered functional connectivity between regions important for pain, psychological functioning, and sensorimotor control, and the connectivity alterations were related to perceived disability, dysfunction, and kinesiophobia. The present results support emergent evidence that PFP is not localized to structural knee dysfunction, but may actually be resultant to altered central neural processes. Clinical significance: These data provide potential neuro-therapeutic targets for novel therapies aimed to reorganize neural processes, improve neuromuscular function, and restore an active pain-free lifestyle in young females with PFP.

Effect of Subconcussive Head Impact Exposure and Jugular Vein Compression on Behavioral and Cognitive Outcomes after a Single Season of High-School Football: A Prospective Longitudinal Trial.

This prospective longitudinal trial aimed to (1) determine the role of head impact exposure on behavioral/cognitive outcomes, and (2) assess the protective effect(s) of a jugular vein compression (JVC) collar on behavioral/cognitive outcomes after one season of high-school football. Participants included 284 male high-school football players aged 13-18 years enrolled from seven Midwestern high-schools. Schools were allocated to the JVC collar intervention (four teams, 140 players) or no collar/no intervention control (three teams, 144 players) condition. Head impact exposure was measured throughout the season using CSx accelerometers. Outcome measures included post-season parent and adolescent report on Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal Behavior Scale (SWAN) and Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory (PCSI), as well as adolescent performance on Attention Network Task (ANT), digital Trail Making Task (dTMT), and Cued Switching task. No significant effect of head impact exposure or JVC collar use on post-season SWAN or PCSI scores or performance on dTMT and Cued Switching task were noted. There was no effect of head impact exposure on ANT performance; however, the JVC collar group had greater post-season Alerting network scores than the no collar group (p = 0.026, d = 0.22). Findings provide preliminary evidence that the JVC collar may provide some protection to the alerting attention system. These findings should be interpreted cautiously as a greater understanding of the long-term sequelae of head impact exposure and the role of cumulative head impact exposure behavioral/cognitive outcomes is required.

High School Sports-Related Concussion and the Effect of a Jugular Vein Compression Collar: A Prospective Longitudinal Investigation of Neuroimaging and Neurofunctional Outcomes.

Sports-related concussion (SRC) can exert serious acute and long-term consequences on brain microstructure, function, and behavioral outcomes. We aimed to quantify the alterations in white matter (WM) microstructure and global network organization, and the decrements in behavioral and cognitive outcomes from pre-season to post-concussion in youth athletes who experienced SRC. We also aimed to evaluate whether wearing a jugular compression neck collar, a device designed to mitigate brain "slosh" injury, would mitigate the pre-season to post-concussion alterations in neuroimaging, behavioral, and cognitive outcomes. A total of 488 high school football and soccer athletes (14-18 years old) were prospectively enrolled and assigned to the non-collar group (n = 237) or the collar group (n = 251). The outcomes of the study were the pre-season to post-concussion neuroimaging, behavioral, and cognitive alterations. Forty-six participants (non-collar: n = 24; collar: n = 22) were diagnosed with a SRC during the season. Forty of these 46 athletes (non-collar: n = 20; collar: n = 20) completed neuroimaging assessment. Significant pre-season to post-concussion alterations in WM microstructural integrity and brain network organization were found in these athletes (corrected p < 0.05). The alterations were significantly reduced in collar-wearing athletes compared to non-collar-wearing athletes (corrected p < 0.05). Concussion and collar main effects were identified for some of the behavioral and cognitive outcomes, but no collar by SRC interaction effects were observed in any outcomes. In summary, young athletes exhibited significant WM microstructural and network organizational, and cognitive alterations following SRC. The use of the jugular vein compression collar showed promising evidence to reduce these alterations in high school contact sport athletes.

White Matter Alteration Following SWAT Explosive Breaching Training and the Moderating Effect of a Neck Collar Device: A DTI and NODDI Study.

INTRODUCTION: Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) personnel who practice breaching with blast exposure are at risk for blast-related head trauma. We aimed to investigate the impact of low-level blast exposure on underlying white matter (WM) microstructure based on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neurite orientation and density imaging (NODDI) in SWAT personnel before and after breacher training. Diffusion tensor imaging is an advanced MRI technique sensitive to underlying WM alterations. NODDI is a novel MRI technique emerged recently that acquires diffusion weighted data from multiple shells modeling for different compartments in the microstructural environment in the brain. We also aimed to evaluate the effect of a jugular vein compression collar device in mitigating the alteration of the diffusion properties in the WM as well as its role as a moderator on the association between the diffusion property changes and the blast exposure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-one SWAT personnel (10 non-collar and 11 collar) completed the breacher training and underwent MRI at both baseline and after blast exposure. Diffusion weighted data were acquired with two shells (b = 1,000, 2,000 s/mm2) on 3T Phillips scanners. Diffusion tensor imaging metrices, including fractional anisotropy, mean, axial, and radial diffusivity, and NODDI metrics, including neurite density index (NDI), isotropic volume fraction (fiso), and orientation dispersion index, were calculated. Tract-based spatial statistics was used in the voxel-wise statistical analysis. Post hoc analyses were performed for the quantification of the pre- to post-blast exposure diffusion percentage change in the WM regions with significant group difference and for the assessment of the interaction of the relationship between blast exposure and diffusion alteration. RESULTS: The non-collar group exhibited significant pre- to post-blast increase in NDI (corrected P < .05) in the WM involving the right internal capsule, the right posterior corona radiation, the right posterior thalamic radiation, and the right sagittal stratum. A subset of these regions showed significantly greater alteration in NDI and fiso in the non-collar group when compared with those in the collar group (corrected P < .05). In addition, collar wearing exhibited a significant moderating effect for the alteration of fiso for its association with average peak pulse pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Our data provided initial evidence of the impact of blast exposure on WM diffusion alteration based on both DTI and NODDI. The mitigating effect of WM diffusivity changes and the moderating effect of collar wearing suggest that the device may serve as a promising solution to protect WM against blast exposure.

Integrated 3D motion analysis with functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging to identify neural correlates of lower extremity movement.

BACKGROUND: To better understand the neural drivers of aberrant motor control, methods are needed to identify whole brain neural correlates of isolated joints during multi-joint lower-extremity coordinated movements. This investigation aimed to identify the neural correlates of knee kinematics during a unilateral leg press task. NEW METHOD: The current study utilized an MRI-compatible motion capture system in conjunction with a lower extremity unilateral leg press task during fMRI. Knee joint kinematics and brain activity were collected concurrently and averaged range of motion were modeled as covariates to determine the neural substrates of knee out-of-plane (frontal) and in-plane (sagittal) range of motion. RESULTS: Increased out-of-plane (frontal) range of motion was associated with altered brain activity in regions important for attention, sensorimotor control, and sensorimotor integration (z >3.1, p < .05), but no such correlates were found with in-plane (sagittal) range of motion (z >3.1, p > .05). Comparison with Existing Method(s): Previous studies have either presented overall brain activation only, or utilized biomechanical data collected outside MRI in a standard biomechanics lab for identifying single-joint neural correlates. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows promise for the MRI-compatible system to capture lower-extremity biomechanical data collected concurrently during fMRI, and the present data identified potentially unique neural drivers of aberrant biomechanics. Future research can adopt these methods for patient populations with CNS-related movement disorders to identify single-joint kinematic neural correlates that may adjunctively supplement brain-body therapeutic approaches.

Quantitative Multimodal Assessment of Concussion Recovery in Youth Athletes.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate recovery trajectories among youth athletes with a concussion and healthy controls across different domains using a quantitative and multifaceted protocol. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective repeated measures. PARTICIPANTS: Youth athletes diagnosed with a concussion between the ages of 8 and 18 years were evaluated (1) within 10 days after injury, (2) approximately 3 weeks after injury, and (3) after return-to-play clearance. Control participants completed the same protocol. SETTING: Sport concussion clinic. INTERVENTIONS: N/A. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants underwent a multifaceted protocol that assessed symptoms (postconcussion symptom scale [PCSS]), dual-task gait, event-related potentials (ERPs), and eye tracking. RESULTS: Sixty-seven athletes participated: 36 after concussion (age = 14.0 ± 2.6 years; 44% female) and 31 controls (age = 14.6 ± 2.2 years; 39% female). Concussion symptoms were higher for the concussion group compared with controls at the first (PCSS = 31.7 ± 18.8 vs 1.9 ± 2.9; P < 0.001) and second time points (PCSS = 10.8 ± 11.2 vs 1.8 ± 3.6; P = 0.001) but resolved by the final assessment (PCSS = 1.7 ± 3.6 vs 2.0 ± 3.8; P = 0.46). The concussion group walked slower during dual-task gait than controls at all 3 tests including after return-to-play clearance (0.83 ± 0.19 vs 0.95 ± 0.15 m/s; P = 0.049). There were no between-group differences for ERP connectivity or eye tracking. Those with concussions had a decrease in ERP connectivity recovery over the 3 time points, whereas control participants' scores increased (concussion Δ = -8.7 ± 28.0; control Δ = 13.9 ± 32.2; χ2 = 14.1, P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Concussion is associated with altered dual-task gait speeds after resolution of concussion symptoms, but ERP and eye tracking measures did not demonstrate between-group differences across time. Some objective approaches to concussion monitoring may support with identifying deficits after concussion, but further work is required to delineate the role of gait, electrophysiological, and eye tracking methods for clinical decision-making.

The effects of internal jugular vein compression for modulating and preserving white matter following a season of American tackle football: A prospective longitudinal evaluation of differential head impact exposure.

The purpose of this clinical trial was to examine whether internal jugular vein compression (JVC)-using an externally worn neck collar-modulated the relationships between differential head impact exposure levels and pre- to postseason changes in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-derived diffusivity and anisotropy metrics of white matter following a season of American tackle football. Male high-school athletes (n = 284) were prospectively assigned to a non-collar group or a collar group. Magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from participants pre- and postseason and head impact exposure was monitored by accelerometers during every practice and game throughout the competitive season. Athletes' accumulated head impact exposure was systematically thresholded based on the frequency of impacts of progressively higher magnitudes (10 g intervals between 20 to 150 g) and modeled with pre- to postseason changes in DTI measures of white matter as a function of JVC neck collar wear. The findings revealed that the JVC neck collar modulated the relationships between greater high-magnitude head impact exposure (110 to 140 g) and longitudinal changes to white matter, with each group showing associations that varied in directionality. Results also revealed that the JVC neck collar group partially preserved longitudinal changes in DTI metrics. Collectively, these data indicate that a JVC neck collar can provide a mechanistic response to the diffusion and anisotropic properties of brain white matter following the highly diverse exposure to repetitive head impacts in American tackle football. Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT# 04068883.

Machine Learning Classification of Verified Head Impact Exposure Strengthens Associations with Brain Changes.

Cumulative exposure to head impacts during contact sports can elicit potentially deleterious brain white matter alterations in young athletes. Head impact exposure is commonly quantified using wearable sensors; however, these sensors tend to overestimate the number of true head impacts that occur and may obfuscate potential relationships with longitudinal brain changes. The purpose of this study was to examine whether data-driven filtering of head impact exposure using machine learning classification could produce more accurate quantification of exposure and whether this would reveal more pronounced relationships with longitudinal brain changes. Season-long head impact exposure was recorded for 22 female high school soccer athletes and filtered using three methods-threshold-based, heuristic filtering, and machine learning (ML) classification. The accuracy of each method was determined using simultaneous video recording of a subset of the sensor-recorded impacts, which was used to confirm which sensor-recorded impacts corresponded with true head impacts and the ability of each method to detect the true impacts. Each filtered dataset was then associated with the athletes' pre- and post-season MRI brain scans to reveal longitudinal white matter changes. The threshold-based, heuristic, and ML approaches achieved 22.0% accuracy, 44.6%, and 83.5% accuracy, respectively. ML classification also revealed significant longitudinal brain white matter changes, with negative relationships observed between head impact exposure and reductions in mean and axial diffusivity and a positive relationship observed between exposure and fractional anisotropy (all p < 0.05).

Prospective longitudinal investigation shows correlation of event-related potential to mild traumatic brain injury in adolescents.

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal cohort study. BACKGROUND: Adolescent athletes may be more susceptible to the long-term effects of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). A diagnostic and prognostic neuromarker may optimize management and return-to-activity decision-making in athletes who experience mTBI. OBJECTIVE: Measure an event-related potential (ERP) component captured with electroencephalography (EEG), called processing negativity (PN), at baseline and post-injury in adolescents who suffered mTBI and determine their longitudinal response relative to healthy controls. METHODS: Thirty adolescents had EEG recorded during an auditory oddball task at a pre-mTBI baseline session and subsequent post-mTBI sessions. Longitudinal EEG data from patients and healthy controls (n= 77) were obtained from up to four sessions in total and processed using Brain Network Analysis algorithms. RESULTS: The average PN amplitude in healthy controls significantly decreased over sessions 2 and 3; however, it remained steady in the mTBI group's 2nd (post-mTBI) session and decreased only in sessions 3 and 4. Pre- to post-mTBI amplitude changes correlated with the time interval between sessions. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that PN amplitude changes may be associated with mTBI exposure and subsequent recovery in adolescent athletes. Further study of PN may lead to it becoming a neuromarker for mTBI prognosis and return-to-activity decision-making in adolescents.

Altered Functional and Structural Connectomes in Female High School Soccer Athletes After a Season of Head Impact Exposure and the Effect of a Novel Collar.

Background: Characterization of, and evaluation of strategies to mitigate, the effects of sub-concussive impacts (SCI) on brain structure and function are crucial to understanding potential long-term neurological risks associated with sports participation. Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of a jugular vein compression collar for preserving functional and structural measures of brain network organization in a cohort of female high school soccer players throughout a season of competitive play. Methods: Athletes were assigned to a collar (N = 72) or non-collar (N = 56) group before engaging in a season of play, during which head impact data were recorded via accelerometer for every practice and competition. Participants completed neuroimaging sessions before and following the season. A graph theoretical framework was applied to the functional and structural connectivity measures computed from resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data. Results: Non-collar-wearing athletes exhibited significantly increased rs-fMRI-derived global clustering coefficients (p = 0.032) and DTI-derived modularity (p = 0.042), compared to collar-wearing athletes. No longitudinal changes in any graph measures were observed for the collar group (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The observed increase in graph measures in the non-collar group is congruent with previous studies of SCI and is similar to graph theoretical studies of traumatic brain injury. The absence of alterations in graph metrics in the collar group indicates a potential ameliorating effect of the collar device against network reorganization, in line with previous literature.

Real-time biofeedback integrated into neuromuscular training reduces high-risk knee biomechanics and increases functional brain connectivity: A preliminary longitudinal investigation.

Prospective evidence indicates that functional biomechanics and brain connectivity may predispose an athlete to an anterior cruciate ligament injury, revealing novel neural linkages for targeted neuromuscular training interventions. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a real-time biofeedback system for altering knee biomechanics and brain functional connectivity. Seventeen healthy, young, physically active female athletes completed 6 weeks of augmented neuromuscular training (aNMT) utilizing real-time, interactive visual biofeedback and 13 served as untrained controls. A drop vertical jump and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging were separately completed at pre- and posttest time points to assess sensorimotor adaptation. The aNMT group had a significant reduction in peak knee abduction moment (pKAM) compared to controls (p = .03, d = 0.71). The aNMT group also exhibited a significant increase in functional connectivity between the right supplementary motor area and the left thalamus (p = .0473 after false discovery rate correction). Greater percent change in pKAM was also related to increased connectivity between the right cerebellum and right thalamus for the aNMT group (p = .0292 after false discovery rate correction, r2  = .62). No significant changes were observed for the controls (ps > .05). Our data provide preliminary evidence of potential neural mechanisms for aNMT-induced motor adaptations that reduce injury risk. Future research is warranted to understand the role of neuromuscular training alone and how each component of aNMT influences biomechanics and functional connectivity.

Electrocortical dynamics differentiate athletes exhibiting low- and high- ACL injury risk biomechanics.

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are physically and emotionally debilitating for athletes,while motor and biomechanical deficits that contribute to ACL injury have been identified, limited knowledge about the relationship between the central nervous system (CNS) and biomechanical patterns of motion has impeded approaches to optimize ACL injury risk reduction strategies. In the current study it was hypothesized that high-risk athletes would exhibit altered temporal dynamics in their resting state electrocortical activity when compared to low-risk athletes. Thirty-eight female athletes performed a drop vertical jump (DVJ) to assess their biomechanical risk factors related to an ACL injury. The athletes' electrocortical activity was also recorded during resting state in the same visit as the DVJ assessment. Athletes were divided into low- and high-risk groups based on their performance of the DVJ. Recurrence quantification analysis was used to quantify the temporal dynamics of two frequency bands previously shown to relate to sensorimotor and attentional control. Results revealed that high-risk participants showed more deterministic electrocortical behavior than the low-risk group in the frontal theta and central/parietal alpha-2 frequency bands. The more deterministic resting state electrocortical dynamics for the high-risk group may reflect maladaptive neural behavior-excessively stable deterministic patterning that makes transitioning among functional task-specific networks more difficult-related to attentional control and sensorimotor processing neural regions.

Relative Head Impact Exposure and Brain White Matter Alterations After a Single Season of Competitive Football: A Pilot Comparison of Youth Versus High School Football.

OBJECTIVE: Youth athletes are believed to be more susceptible to white matter (WM) degradation resulting from head impact exposure relative to high school (HS) athletes; this hypothesis has not been objectively tested. The purpose of this study was to determine preseason to postseason changes in WM integrity from repetitive head impacts for youth football (YFB) players compared with HS football players during a competitive football season. DESIGN: Prospective cohort. SETTING: One season of YFB (grades 7 and 8) and varsity HS football (grades 10-12). PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Twelve YFB (13.08 ± 0.64 years) and 21 HS (17.5 ± 0.78 years) athletes. INTERVENTIONS: Participants completed 2 magnetic resonance imaging sessions: preseason and postseason. Head impact exposure was recorded during practice and games using a helmet-mounted accelerometer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Tract-based spatial statistics were used to evaluate group differences in preseason to postseason changes in diffusion tensor imaging, including fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD). RESULTS: The HS group exhibited significant preseason to postseason reductions in MD, AD, and RD (P < 0.05, corrected) in widespread WM areas. Significant WM reductions for the YFB group were only observed for AD (P < 0.05, corrected), but was more limited in extent compared with HS. CONCLUSIONS: Significant preseason to postseason AD reduction was found in both YFB and HS groups after one season of competitive play. Our results did not confirm recent speculation that younger children are more susceptible to the deleterious effects of repetitive head impacts compared with their older counterparts.

Lower Extremity Biomechanics Are Altered Across Maturation in Sport-Specialized Female Adolescent Athletes.

Sport specialization is a growing trend in youth athletes and may contribute to increased injury risk. The neuromuscular deficits that often manifest during maturation in young, female athletes may be exacerbated in athletes who specialize in a single sport. The purpose of this study was to investigate if sport specialization is associated with increased lower extremity biomechanical deficits pre- to post-puberty in adolescent female athletes. Seventy-nine sport-specialized female adolescent (Mean ± SD age = 13.4 ± 1.8 years) basketball, soccer, and volleyball athletes were identified and matched with seventy-nine multi-sport (soccer, basketball, and volleyball) female athletes from a database of 1,116 female adolescent basketball, soccer, and volleyball athletes who were enrolled in one of two large prospective, longitudinal studies. The athletes were assessed over two visits (Mean ± SD time = 724.5 ± 388.7 days) in which they were classified as pre-pubertal and post-pubertal, respectively. Separate 2 × 2 analyses of covariance were used to compare sport-specialized and multi-sport groups and dominant/non-dominant limbs with respect to pubertal changes in peak knee sagittal, frontal, and transverse plane joint angular measures and moments of force recorded while performing a drop vertical jump task. The sport-specialized group were found to exhibit significantly larger post-pubertal increases in peak knee abduction angle (p = 0.005) and knee abduction moment (p = 0.006), as well as a smaller increase in peak knee extensor moment (p = 0.032) during landing when compared to the multi-sport group. These biomechanical changes are indicative of potentially compromised neuromuscular control that may increase injury risk pre- to post-puberty in sport-specialized female athletes. Consideration of maturation status may be an important factor in assessing the injury risk profiles of adolescent athletes who specialize in sport.