Sport Concussion Performance-Based Prevention Program

Concussion, Brain Clinical Trial

Official title: Sport-Related Concussion and Traumatic Lower Body Injury Performance-Based Prevention Program

Status Recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

Sport-related concussions and traumatic lower body injuries (e.g., anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears) occur frequently in high-speed and contact/collision sports contributing to significant time loss from training/competition and potentially devastating long-term performance and health consequences. Neurological impairment following a concussive injury may be subtle, but if missed, may have grave consequences in a high-risk, high-speed sporting context. Recent evidence suggests that the risk of lower body musculoskeletal injury is significantly higher for athletes sustaining a sport-related concussion in the three-month to two-year period following injury. Most injury prevention research to date has focused on modifiable extrinsic risk factors; there is a void or gap on modifiable intrinsic risk factors.

The purpose of this study is to:

1. determine the effect of a standardized supplementary pre-season multi-modal neurologic training program, versus usual training, on concussion and/or traumatic lower body injury risk among high-speed/contact/collision sport athletes (primary prevention).

2. determine the effect of a standardized supplementary pre-season multi-modal neurologic training program, versus usual training, on concussion and/or traumatic lower body injury severity (time loss from training/competition measured in days, determined from the date of injury to the date a sport medicine physician medically clears the athlete to return to unrestricted training/competition) (secondary prevention).

3. determine the effect of a standardized supplementary pre-season multi-modal neurologic training program, versus usual training, on neurologic performance.

The investigators hypothesize that athletes completing the standardized supplementary pre-season multi-modal neurologic training program, compared with usual training, will significantly reduce the participants risk and severity of concussion and/or traumatic lower body injury, and significantly improve neurologic performance.

Clinical Trial Description

This study will measure multiple neurological systems and brain processes on 400 Canadian high-performance snow sport athletes and elite community ice hockey players in the participants healthy (uninjured) state using reliable assessment technology and techniques. A two-month standardized, pre-season, supplementary multi-modal training program will be prescribed to 200 athletes (intervention cohort) by a team of experienced sport science and medicine professionals targeting the specific intrinsic risk factors of interest identified in the current concussion and ACL prevention literature. The control cohort of 200 athletes will carry out their usual pre-season training programs. At the completion of the two-month training period, the standardized neurological outcome measures completed at baseline will be repeated on all athletes. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Brain Concussion
• Concussion, Brain
• Traumatic Injury
• Wounds and Injuries

• NCT number: NCT04992130
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Calgary
• Contact: Brian W. Benson, MD, PhD
• Phone: 403-560-7579
• Email: bbenson@csicalgary.ca
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 13, 2021
• Completion date: August 2023