Analyse biomécanique du risque de traumatisme crânio-cérébral léger lors de la pratique du soccer

Abstract

Playing soccer, as for the practice of all sports, carries a risk of injury. Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is a particularly common injury in most sports. One of the most important mechanisms of MTBI is the acceleration of the head. In soccer, acceleration of the head is caused by voluntary impacts (heading techniques) and involuntary impacts. However, in the current literature, there is little data on the kinematics of the head when the impact occurs in a real-time situation, such as a soccer training or a soccer game. Therefore, the main objective of this research project was to assess the risk of MTBI in real-time soccer game. To achieve this goal, head accelerations of male and female soccer players over 18 years old were measured during training and soccer games. A total of 8 male players in the AAA provincial league and a total of 16 players in the A regional league, participated in this study. Participants wore a headband instrumented with a SIM-G (Triax Technologies, Norwalk, Ct,USA) to measure various head parameters such as linear acceleration, angular acceleration, angular velocity and head movement, when the impact was greater than 10g. The risk of MTBI was identified by comparing the acceleration amplitudes with the MTBI risk thresholds established by Zhang, Yang et King (2004) and by Rowson et al. (2012). The results showed that there was a greater risk of MTBI in soccer games as opposed to training. As well, the defense players were more at risk to suffer from a MTBI than forwards and midfielders. Also, heading techniques have resulted in a greater risk of MTBI than involuntary impacts. These results demonstrated that despite the fact that soccer is considered a non-contact sport, there is a significant risk of MTBI while playing soccer. The situations observed during this research project showed the importance of awareness and education about the risk of MTBI in soccer for coaches, players and parents. For this reason, the Fédération de soccer du Québec should emphasize on the risk, the symptoms and the consequences of MTBI during coach training.

Date	31 May 2017
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Éric Wagnac (Supervisor) & Yvan Petit (Co-supervisor)