444 Sport Biomechanics

An Analysis of Accelerations Acting On the Head from Various Kicks of Middle School Taekwondo Athletes
O'Sullivan David Chung-Ang University Fife P. Gabriel Dong-A University Lim Taehee
Yongin University

Introduction: To date, there is no known study that investigated the impact forces produced by various kicks of middle school taekwondo (TKD) athletes and resultant head injury outcomes. The purpose of this study was to measure the impact forces of various TKD head kicks of middle school players. Methods: Each subject (n=16, age 14.81+0.64, height 165.72 +11.86, weight 56.64 +13.64) randomly performed ten repetitions of the turning-kick (TK), jump back-kick (JB) and jump spinning hook-kick (JH) at the average standing head height for competitors in their respective weight division. A Hybrid II Crash Test Dummy (H2D) head was fitted with a protective TKD helmet (LeCaf, Republic of Korea) and instrumented with a 500g tri-axial accelerometer (PCB Piezotronics-356A66) mounted at the head center of gravity and fixed to a height adjustable support frame. Acceleration data were captured using Qualisys Track Manager (Gothenburg, Sweden) and processed in accordance with SAE J211-1. One way ANOVA were performed to analyze differences in head impacts between various weight divisions. Significance level was set at 0.05. Results: Post-hoc analyses revealed significant differences between the fin & fly and light & welter weight divisions for the TK (RLA = 43.14 + 15.96 g, 71.44 + 39.2 g, p = 0.004) respectively and the JH between the bantam & feather and light & welter weight divisions (RLA = 35.14 + 27.06, 65.66 + 52.78, p = 0.001) respectively and the welter and fly weight divisions (65.66 + 52.78, 30.1+22.32,p<0.001)respectively. Conclusions: Our results are in agreement with other investigations into sport related head collision research. The TK revealed the greatest peak mean RLA (71.44) and although lower than previous preliminary reports on head impacts due to TKD kicks, are an area of concern for this young athletic population that is still in developmental neural and musculoskeletal growth.