- Title
- The effect of sub-concussive impacts during a rugby tackling drill on brain function
- Creator
- McNabb, Colm; Reha, Tahere; Georgieva, Julia; Jacques, Angela; Netto, Kevin; Lavender, Andrew
- Date
- 2020
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/183685
- Identifier
- vital:16350
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10120960
- Identifier
- ISBN:2076-3425 (ISSN)
- Abstract
- Concussion is known to detrimentally affect brain health. Rugby tackles commonly occur with high collision force between tackler and ball carrier, and low impact head contact is not uncommon. Cognitive deficits following a bout of soccer ball heading has been attributed to the impact and termed sub-concussion. Although soccer ball heading studies provide evidence for acute effects of sub-concussion, it is unknown whether this phenomenon occurs following rugby tackles. This study investigates the acute effects of rugby tackles on brain function and balance in rugby players. Twenty-six volunteers were assigned to either the ball carrier (9), tackler (9) or control (8) group. Controls performed running without the tackle. Outcome measures included corticomotor function using transcranial magnetic brain stimulation (TMS) and balance was assessed by a series of tasks performed on a NeuroCom Balance Master before and immediately after a tackle training drill. Following the tackling bout, the cortical silent period (cSP) increased for the tacklers with no change for ball carrier and control groups, and no differences between groups for balance measures were observed. Lengthening of cSP observed in the tacklers following the bout has been reported in studies of concussion and may indicate long term detrimental effects. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Relation
- Brain Sciences Vol. 10, no. 12 (2020), p. 1-12
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Rights
- Copyright © 2020 by the authors
- Rights
- Open Access
- Subject
- 5201 Applied and Developmental Psychology; 5202 Biological Psychology; 3209 Neurosciences; Balance; Brain function; Concussion; Rugby; Sub-concussion; Transcranial magnetic stimulation
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