Thomas W. Kaminski's research while affiliated with University of Delaware and other places

Publications (213)

Article
Background Approximately half of concussions go undisclosed and therefore undiagnosed. Among diagnosed concussions, 51% to 64% receive delayed medical care. Understanding the influence of undiagnosed concussions and delayed medical care would inform medical and education practices. Purpose To compare postconcussion longitudinal clinical outcomes a...
Article
Objective: To assess the association of sport specialization combined with sport-related concussion (SRC) history on depression and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a population of high school athletes. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: High schools. Participants: Two thousand four hundred fifty-three athletes through the...
Article
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine changes in neurocognitive, psychosocial, and balance functioning in collegiate male and female soccer players across three consecutive years of baseline testing compared to a control group of non-contact athletes. Methods: Generalized estimating equations were used to compare changes in annual,...
Article
Background and Objective Computer-based neurocognitive tests are widely used in sport-related concussion management, but the performance of these tests is not well understood in the participant population with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or learning disorder (LD). This research estimates the sensitivity and specificity perfo...
Article
Background The prevalence of unreported concussions is high, and undiagnosed concussions can lead to worse postconcussion outcomes. It is not clear how those with a history of undiagnosed concussion perform on subsequent standard concussion baseline assessments. Purpose To determine if previous concussion diagnosis status was associated with outco...
Article
Full-text available
Wearable sensors are an important tool in the study of head acceleration events and head impact injuries in sporting and military activities. Recent advances in sensor technology have improved our understanding of head kinematics during on-field activities; however, proper utilization and interpretation of data from wearable devices requires carefu...
Article
Objectives To assess whether the King-Devick (KD) test is useful as a prognostic test for prolonged concussion symptoms by examining the relationship between a) change in performance on KD test from baseline to within two days post-injury and b) the absolute KD time at post-concussion testing, with an outcome of time to return to play (RTP). Desig...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Introduction: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury often occurs during the initial 100 milliseconds of landing.1 Generating an adequate total sagittal plane lower extremity energy absorption (EA) during the critical injury timeframe may be essential to minimize the loading on passive tissues. No prior research has investigated sagittal plane EA...
Article
Context: There is an elevated rate of post-concussion lower extremity musculoskeletal injury (LE MSK), however the underlying mechanism has not been elucidated. Existing approaches have investigated physical characteristics despite poorer mental health being a common post-concussion complaint and linked to musculoskeletal injuries. Objective: Th...
Article
The objective was to examine the efficacy of the Get aHEAD Safely in Soccer™ intervention on head impact kinematics and neck strength in female youth soccer players. The control group (CG) consisted of 13 players (age: 11.0 ± 0.4 yrs), while the experimental group (EG) consisted of 14 players (age: 10.6 ± 0.5 yrs). Head impact kinematics included p...
Article
Objective: Emerging evidence has identified an ~2x elevated risk of musculoskeletal (MSK) injury in the year following a concussion. Most of these studies have examined a single college/university athletic department and may lack generalizability to professional sports. Therefore, the purpose this study was to assess the odds of post-concussion MS...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Early sport specialization has been associated with an increased risk of musculoskeletal injuries and unfavorable psychological outcomes; however, it is unknown whether sport specialization is associated with worse cognitive, postural, and psychological functions in first-year collegiate student-athletes. Methods: First-year collegia...
Article
Full-text available
Background Sport-related concussion is recognized as a significant injury with variable recovery rates.Objective This study defined the acute natural history of sport concussion in male and female collegiate athletes participating in a broad array of sports.Methods We conducted a prospective, longitudinal investigation among collegiate student athl...
Article
Full-text available
Background Concussion pre-injury (i.e., baseline) assessments serve as a benchmark comparison point in the event an individual sustains a concussion and allows clinicians to compare to post-injury measures. However, baseline assessments must reflect the individual’s true and most optimized performance to serve as a useful comparison. Mental fatigue...
Article
Context: The King-Devick (K-D) is used to identify oculomotor impairment following concussion. However, the diagnostic accuracy of the K-D over time has not been evaluated. Objective: (a) Examine the sensitivity and specificity of the K-D test at 0–6 hours of injury, 24–48 hours, asymptomatic, return-to-play, and 6-months following concussion and (...
Article
Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the mechanism of injury (MOI) and examine factors associated with greater risk for specific MOIs involving concussions in collegiate soccer players. Methods: Participants included 3,288 collegiate soccer players from 28 institutions across four competitive seasons, 2014-17. MOIs were documente...
Research
Lower Extremity Review of JAT Paper-- Talocrural Joint Laxity and Range-of-Motion Following an Acute Lateral Ankle Sprain https://lermagazine.com/article/talocrural-joint-laxity-and-range-of-motion-following-an-acute-lateral-ankle-sprain
Article
Full-text available
The effects of repetitive head impacts associated with soccer heading, especially in the youth population, are unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine balance, neurocognitive function, and head impact biomechanics after an acute bout of heading before and after the Get aHEAD Safely in Soccer™ program intervention. Twelve youth female socc...
Article
Lower-leg strength training has been a cornerstone of ankle sprain and chronic ankle instability (CAI) rehabilitation and an important consideration for return-to-play in athletes with ankle injuries. The purpose of this literature review is to offer a contemporary, evidence-based overview of the role of ankle strength measurements as they relate t...
Article
Context Approximately 72% of patients with an ankle sprain report residual symptoms 6 to 18 months later. Although 44% of patients return to activity in less than 24 hours after experiencing a sprain, residual symptoms should be evaluated in the long term to determine if deficits exist. These residual symptoms may be due to the quality of ligament...
Article
Full-text available
Recent public concern over the short- and long-term effects of repetitive head impacts (RHI) associated with purposeful heading in soccer has led researchers to study a multitude of variables related to this important aspect of the game. Of particular interests are the effects of soccer heading in the youth population (≤ 13 years old) whose brains...
Article
Introduction: Computerized neuropsychological testing is a cornerstone of sport-related concussion assessment. Female soccer players are at an increased risk for concussion as well as exposures to repetitive head impacts from heading a soccer ball. Our primary aim was to examine factorial validity of the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Met...
Article
Objective To determine the effect of concussion history on the electronic version of the Trail Making Test (TMT) A and TMT-B performance. Background The effects of concussion history on cognitive performance when the individual is still young has received limited attention. There are inconsistent results in prior studies using computerized neuroco...
Article
Objective: To examine the association between estimated age of first exposure (eAFE) to American football and clinical measures throughout recovery following concussion. Methods: Participants were recruited across 30 colleges and universities as part of the NCAA-DoD Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium. There were 294...
Article
Full-text available
Background Collegiate football players who started playing tackle football before age 12 years did not show worse neuropsychological test performance than those who started playing tackle football after age 12 years. It is unknown if beginning other contact sports, such as lacrosse, at a younger age is associated with worse neurocognitive performan...
Article
This study aimed to describe incidence rates of concussion from a large online survey of United States (U.S.) male and female youth soccer players; and to compare rates by age group, sex, competitive level, and practices compared to games. The survey was conducted through US Soccer consisting of three sections; demographic data, soccer heading expo...
Article
Purpose: The popularity of soccer worldwide is unquestionable, yet the aspect of purposeful heading in the sport has drawn increasing scrutiny over the past 10 years. The reason for this is primarily be-cause of the concern over the potential deleterious effects of repetitive head impacts (RHI) on brain structure and function. Accurate accounts of...
Article
Full-text available
Context The King-Devick (KD) test has received considerable attention in the literature as an emerging concussion assessment. However, important test psychometric properties remain to be addressed in large-scale independent studies. Objective To assess (1) test-retest reliability between trials, (2) test-retest reliability between years 1 and 2, a...
Article
Objectives: Youth soccer is popular across the world and there is growing concerns about the safety of the sport, especially with regard to purposeful heading. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the frequency and characteristics (e.g. game vs practice) of purposeful soccer heading in youth players (ages 7-14) in the United States (US)...
Article
Context Comprehensive assessments are recommended to evaluate sport-related concussion (SRC). The degree to which the King-Devick (KD) test adds novel information to an SRC evaluation is unknown. Objective To describe relationships at baseline among the KD and other SRC assessments and explore whether the KD provides unique information to a multim...
Article
Full-text available
Objective To examine the association between estimated age of first exposure (eAFE) to American football and clinical measures throughout recovery following concussion. Background In collegiate football players, we reported no association between eAFE and baseline neurocognitive function. It is possible that neurocognitive deficits from earlier eA...
Article
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between repetitive head impacts (RHI) and clinical concussion assessments across a season among collegiate football (FB) and women's soccer (WSOC) players. Methods: Fifteen male FB and 23 WSOC players participated in this study. Participants were included if they were medically...
Article
Rates of concussion in soccer are high, especially in female players. The primary aim of this study was to examine differences in self-reported concussion-related symptoms (CRS), balance (BESS), and neurocognitive performance (ImPACT) following an acute bout of soccer heading in a group of female collegiate players with and without a history of con...
Article
Optimizing joint stiffness through appropriate muscular activation is crucial for maintaining stability and preventing injury. Conditioning techniques may affect joint stability by increasing joint stiffness and altering neuromuscular control; however no studies have assessed this in a controlled setting. Fifteen endurance athletes, 12 power athlet...
Article
Context: Given the frequency of ankle sprains, especially in the athletic population, prevention is a primary task of athletic trainers and other sports health care professionals. Objective: To discuss the current evidence as it relates to prophylactic programs for the prevention of ankle sprains and to provide critical interpretation of the evi...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Repetitive head impacts in young athletes are potentially detrimental to later life (e.g., age 50 + years) neurological function; however, it is unknown what the short-term effects (e.g., age 20 years) are in collegiate student-athletes. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the estimated age of first ex...
Article
Objective: To determine the acute effects of repetitive soccer heading on postural control. Design: Prospective study; participants were divided into 2 groups: a soccer heading group and a control group. Setting: Biomechanics laboratory. Participants: One hundred sixty participants, including youth (age = 13.0 ± 0.8 years), high school (age...
Article
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of purposeful heading in football on measures of cognitive function in a large cohort of female interscholastic football players over the course of their playing career. 217 interscholastic female football players participated in this prospective analysis of football heading over a 4-year timefram...
Article
The King–Devick (K–D) test is often used as part of a multimodal assessment to screen for sport-related concussion. However, the test involves reading numbers, and little is known about variation in baseline performance on the K–D by reading skill level. We conducted a cross-sectional study analyzing data from the Concussion Assessment, Research an...
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this study was to compare global and specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) throughout concussion recovery between those with and without concussion history. Student-athletes diagnosed with concussion completed global (Short Form-12v2; SF-12) and specific (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: HADS) HRQOL assessments at bas...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives: Lateral ankle sprains commonly occur in an athletic population and can lead to chronic ankle instability (CAI). The objective of this study was to compare ankle strength measurements in athletes who have mechanical laxity and report functional instability after a history of unilateral ankle sprains. Design: Retrospective cohort. Set...
Article
Lateral ankle sprain injury is the most common musculoskeletal injury incurred by individuals who participate in sports and recreational physical activities. Following initial injury, a high proportion of individuals develop long-term injury-associated symptoms and chronic ankle instability. The development of chronic ankle instability is consequen...
Article
Full-text available
Lateral ankle sprain injury is the most common musculoskeletal injury incurred by individuals who participate in sports and recreational physical activities. Following initial injury, a high proportion of individuals develop long-term injury-associated symptoms and chronic ankle instability. The development of chronic ankle instability is consequen...
Article
Background: A student-athlete's mental state, including history of trait anxiety and depression, or current psychological state may affect baseline concussion assessment performance. Purpose: (1) To determine if mental illness (anxiety, depression, anxiety with depression) influences baseline scores, (2) to determine if psychological state corre...
Article
Context: Heading, an integral component of soccer, exposes athletes to a large number of head impacts over a career. The literature has begun to indicate that cumulative exposure may lead to long-term functional and psychological deficits. Quantifying an athlete's exposure over a season is a first step in understanding cumulative exposure. Object...
Article
Purpose: The purpose was to evaluate tandem gait (TG), Balance Error Scoring System (BESS), and modified Balance Error Scoring System (mBESS) performance acutely post-concussion in collegiate student-athletes. Additionally, we sought to evaluate the psychometric properties of TG, including minimal detectable change (MDC), sensitivity, and specific...
Article
Differences in head–neck segment mass, purposeful heading technique, and cervical strength and stiffness may contribute to differences in head accelerations across sex and age. The purpose of this study was to compare head acceleration across sex and age (youth [12–14 years old], high school and collegiate) during purposeful soccer heading. One-hun...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose: Maintaining joint stability is dependent on the ability of the nervous system to prepare for, sense, and react to potentially injuries loads. In attempts to understand the neurophysiologic mechanisms underlying joint stability, this afferent and efferent activity has been quantified separately at the cortical, segmental, and peripheral lev...
Article
There is increasing societal concern about the long-term effects of repeated impacts from soccer heading, but there is little information about ways to reduce head impact severity. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that contribute to head acceleration during soccer heading. One-hundred soccer players completed 12 controlled soccer h...
Conference Paper
Study Design Research report-retrospective cohort. Objectives To examine the relationship between previous ankle injury history, Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) scores, and Y-Balance Test (YBT) scores. Background Ankle sprains are the most common injury that collegiate athletes suffer during their careers. Factors that may affect the lik...
Conference Paper
Study Design Research report- retrospective cohort. Objectives To determine if differences in Y-Balance Test (YBT) scores exist between those that have sustained an ankle sprain (AS) and those that have not (C). Background Ankle sprains are one of the most common injuries occurring in an athletic population. Many factors may contribute to the occ...
Article
Objective To compare linear and rotational acceleration across age and gender in controlled purposeful soccer heading. Design Prospective study. Setting Biomechanics laboratory. Participants One-hundred soccer players (42 male, 58 female, 17.1±3.5 years, 168.5±20.3 cm, 61.5±13.7 kg) classified as collegiate, high school (HS), or youth (12–14 yea...
Conference Paper
Objective To examine post-concussion tandem gait (TG) performance. Design Prospective Longitudinal. Setting Research Laboratory. Subjects Twenty-two NCAA Division I student-athletes: twelve diagnosed with sport-related concussions (Age: 20.3 ± 1.2 years; Height: 180.1 ± 12.4 cm; Weight: 80.5 ± 21.0 kg), and ten healthy controls (Age: 19 ± 1.2 ye...
Article
Objective Do differences in neurological assessments exists in a cohort of intercollegiate soccer players with varied concussion histories after an acute bout of soccer heading? Design Pre-posttest. Setting Soccer turf field and clinic. Participants 67 female collegiate soccer athletes (age=19.1 ± 0.9 yr.; mass=60.5 ± 5.0 kg; height=165.3 ± 5.9...
Article
Objective To identify factors that contribute to head acceleration during purposeful soccer heading. Design Prospective. Setting Biomechanics laboratory. Participants One-hundred soccer players (42 male, 58 female, 17.1±3.5 years (range: 12-24years), 168.5±20.3 cm, 61.5±13.7 kg). Exclusionary criteria: history of neurologic disorder, cervical sp...
Article
Objective To measure the acute effects of SRC on cognition and symptoms over a 7-day time course in interscholastic female soccer players. Design Prospective. Setting Soccer fields. Participants 36 interscholastic female soccer players were equally divided into concussed [CON] (age 16.3±1.4 yr.) and non-concussed [NOCON] (age 16.1±1.3 yr.) group...
Article
Context: Lateral ankle sprains are the most common injuries in high school sports. While ankle taping is a preferred method of external prophylactic support, its restrictive properties decline during exercise. The Under Armour® Highlight cleat is marketed on the premise that it provides added support without the need for additional ankle taping....
Article
Full-text available
Physicians and healthcare professionals are often asked for recommendations on how to keep athletes safe during contact sports such as soccer. With an increase in concussion awareness and concern about repetitive subconcussion, many parents and athletes are interested in mitigating head acceleration in soccer, so we conducted a literature review on...
Article
The long-term effects of repetitive head impacts due to heading are an area of increasing concern, and exposure must be accurately measured; however, the validity of self-report of cumulative soccer heading is not known. In order to validate HeadCount, a 2-week recall questionnaire, the number of player-reported headers was compared to the number o...
Article
Background Impaired balance is common after concussion. The third edition of the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT-3) recommends the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) and/or tandem gait for postconcussion balance assessment. The limitations of the BESS are well documented; however, tandem gait has received little attention throughout concuss...
Article
The purpose of this study was to measure peak linear and rotational head acceleration in women's collegiate soccer and explore the variations in acceleration across different strategic scenarios. Game videos from 14 games were used to identify the strategic scenario in which the athlete headed the ball. Strategic scenarios included: bounce, seconda...
Article
Full-text available
The Executive Committee of the International Ankle Consortium presents this 2016 position paper with recommendations for information implementation and continued research based on the paradigm that lateral ankle sprain (LAS), and the development of chronic ankle instability (CAI), serve as a conduit to a significant global healthcare burden. We int...
Article
Lateral ankle sprains (LASs) are the most prevalent musculoskeletal injury in physically active populations. They also have a high prevalence in the general population and pose a substantial healthcare burden. The recurrence rates of LASs are high, leading to a large percentage of patients with LAS developing chronic ankle instability. This chronic...
Article
Full-text available
Soccer athletes at all levels of play are keenly aware of their equipment needs including cleat wear, and want to be protected from injury but without impeding on-field performance. Ankle injury is a common disorder that is prevalent in the sport of soccer and recent improvements in ankle prophylaxis interventions have proven effective. The aim of...
Article
The Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) is often used for sport-related concussion balance assessment. However, moderate intratester and intertester reliability may cause low initial sensitivity, suggesting that a more objective balance assessment method is needed. The MobileMat® BESS was designed for objective BESS scoring, but the outcome measure...
Article
Full-text available
Context: Hamstrings strain injuries (HSIs) are among the most commonly occurring injuries in sport and are top causes of missed playing time. Lingering symptoms, prolonged recovery, and a high reinjury rate (12%-34%) make HSI management a frustrating and challenging process for the athletic trainer (AT). The clinical practice patterns and opinions...
Article
Background: There is a need for successful screening methods to identify athletes at increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Previous research showed that collegiate athletes with ACL tears demonstrated slower time to stabilization during jump landing after reconstruction. Hypothesis: Collegiate athletes with baseline deficien...
Article
Full-text available
Context: Several factors affect the reliability of the anterior drawer and talar tilt tests, including the individual clinician's experience and skill, ankle and knee positioning, and muscle guarding. Objectives: To compare gastrocnemius activity during the measurement of ankle- complex motion at different knee positions, and secondarily, to com...
Article
Background Strength training interventions have long been a cornerstone of ankle injury rehabilitation, with greater emphasis on the eccentric (ECC) muscle actions necessary for coordinated ankle movements. Deficits in strength between involved and uninvolved ankles typically exist following an acute ankle sprain; while these same deficits have als...
Article
Background Ankle arthrometers are available to objectively assess ankle joint laxity and range-of-motion, and have been useful in the research environment. This study is unique in that our institution has access to two of the same ankle arthrometers, which enabled us to efficiently study both the reliability and validity of the derived joint laxity...
Article
Background While ankle taping is a preferred method of external prophylactic support, its mechanical efficiency significantly declines during exercise. The Under Armour® Highlight cleat is marketed on the premise that it is lightweight and wraps your foot and ankle in a “second skin” for added support without the need for additional ankle taping. O...
Article
Full-text available
The aims of the present study were to explore the pattern of force-velocity (F-V) relationship of leg muscles, evaluate the reliability and concurrent validity of the obtained parameters, and explore the load associated changes in the muscle work and power output. Subjects performed maximum vertical countermovement jumps with a vest ranging 0-40% o...
Article
Full-text available
Rolling sensations at the ankle are common after injury and represent failure in neural regulation of joint stiffness. However, deficits following ankle injury are variable and strategies for optimizing stiffness may differ across patients. This study aimed to determine if ankle stiffness and muscle activation differ between patients with varying h...
Article
Context: The high number of repetitions and high forces associated with overhead throwing lead to anatomical adaptations, such as humeral retrotorsion and posterior-capsule thickness, in elite and professional baseball athletes. However, little is known about the origin and progression of these changes that may account for the increasing trend of...
Article
Awareness of sport-related concussions in soccer has gained recent attention in the medical community. Interestingly, purposeful heading-a unique yet strategic and inherent part of soccer-involves repeated subconcussive blows to the head. We divided 210 female interscholastic soccer players into control (CON [never concussed]) and experimental (EXP...