Jadyn Beppu
Research Mentor(s): Abigail Bretzin
Mentor Department: Injury Prevention Center, Emergency Medicine
Authors: Jadyn Beppu, Abigail C. Bretzin, Christopher Knaub, Douglas J. Wiebe
Session: Session 1 (9:00am – 9:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 109
Abstract
Concussions account for 8.4% of injury in collegiate gymnastics. This study describes the epidemiology of sport-related concussion (SRC) in Men’s and Women’s gymnastics from 2013/14 to 2023/24. The Ivy League-Big Ten Epidemiology of Concussion Study is a prospective cohort study across all sports. In this project, we compare clinical incidence of Men’s and Women’s gymnastics SRC (per 100-athletes, 95% confidence intervals [95%CI]) via clinical incidence ratios (CIR; 95%CI including 1 indicates null finding). We classified patterns of mechanism of injury (MOI) via proportions: injury activity (e.g., practice, competition), head impact object (e.g., floor, apparatus), and coded descriptive narratives of how SRC was sustained. Of the total 130 SRC, clinical incidence for Men’s gymnastics (2.09/100-athletes, 95%CI: 0.84-4.26) was significantly lower (CIR: 0.27, 95%CI: 0.11-0.58) than Women’s (7.61/100-athletes, 95%CI: 6.37-9.01). Practice accounted for the highest percentages of Men’s (n=5/7, 71.43%) and Women’s (n=100/122, 81.97%) SRC. For Women, hitting the floor while tumbling (n=19/123, 15.45%), falling off bars (n=16/123, 13.01%), landing during vault (n=9/123, 7.32%), and bars release moves (n=8/123, 6.50%) were the most common mechanisms. There were no MOI patterns in Men’s; 71.43% (n=5/7) SRC occurred from contact with the floor. Approximately 67.69% (n =88/130) had symptoms resolve within two weeks; falling off bars (n=7/42, 16.67%) and hitting the floor while tumbling (n=6/42, 14.29%) were the most common MOI for longer symptom duration. Women’s gymnasts display higher clinical incidence than men, however there are more Women’s teams. This study may inform potential prevention efforts tailored to SRC in Men’s and Women’s gymnastics. Abstract: 300/300 words
