Abstract des Autors

Currently, concussions are detected by observing physical and cognitive symptoms such as dizziness, disorientation and loss of consciousness that are often associated with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Evaluation methods such as neurocognitive tests and neuroimaging are often performed post-concussion. However, these methods can be expensive and cumbersome to use. In this study, we developed a new testing protocol using a markerless motion capture system to quickly monitor the cognitive and motor dysfunction of football players over the course of the season. This protocol utilized a dual-task paradigm to identify kinematic measures that could detect the subtle changes in the motor and cognitive function of players due to mTBI. Four high school football players (2 healthy and 2 with history of concussion) volunteered to participate in the study. Participants were asked to navigate a staged obstacle course with and without an N-Back (N-2) cognitive task. Positional data of 23 limb segment nodes were recorded using markerless motion tracking system. Data collection lasted less than 5 minutes, with minimal preparation time. The results showed that walking speed, median frequency of sacrum in the vertical direction and step width variability during straightway walking were strongly associated with the presence of mTBI.