The adoption of head injury management strategies for athletes minimizes the consequences and mitigates the severity of traumatic brain injuries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of head injury management strategies at Japanese collegiate sport clubs. A cross-sectional survey following the precaution adoption process model was distributed to 23 Japanese collegiate contact sport clubs. Our results showed that >80% of the clubs were implementing first-aid measures for head injuries ; conversely, <20% were carrying out the concussion baseline assessment, brain medical check-ups, and skill training for spine boarding. Our findings suggest that Japanese collegiate sport clubs should improve their head injury management programs.

Nineteen male junior football players performed the single-leg drop landing test on a force platform. The magnitude of peak vertical ground reaction force (pVGRF), time to pVGRF, loading rate, and center of pressure (COP) trajectory were compared between the dominant and non-dominant legs. In addition, the symmetry angle was calculated to monitor the magnitude and direction of asymmetry. The magnitude of pVGRF and the loading rate were higher in the non-dominant leg than in the dominant leg, and the time to pVGRF was shorter in the non-dominant leg than in the dominant leg. The COP trajectory length was not significantly different between the groups. In addition, the symmetry angle of the loading rate was the highest value in all variables. Therefore, high stiffness in the non-dominant leg leads to mechanical stress in the knee joint.

The purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiological features of muscle strains in Japanese female collegiate soccer players. We investigated the injury rate, burden, severity, situation, and reoccurrence during five-year seasons. Injury rate and burden were higher during matches than during training. Additionally, more muscle strains occurred in the quadriceps femoris than in the hamstring; therefore, strategies dealing with the loads applied during both splinting and kicking are necessary.

Among the players who suffered muscle strain, 19.4% re-injured the same muscle as previously injured and 21.6% injured other sites. These results suggest that the prevention program of the muscle strain for collegiate female soccer players should be developed because of the fact that previous history of muscle strain increases the risk of re-injury at the same muscle as previously injured and new injuries at other sites.

This report describes the initiation of injury survey and the Pre-participation Physical Exam (PPE) at a collegiate athletic setting. The subjects were 62 student athletes from Hiroshima University’s athletic teams. Prior to the PPE, the current and previous injury history from each subject were recorded. The PPE consisted of 9 items related to flexibility, muscle strength, explosive power, and balance ability. In the individual feedback session after PPE, we explained the results of the PPE and provided specific physical conditioning instructions. The medical interview, PPE, and feedback were conducted by a Japan Sport Association certified athletic trainer (JSPO-AT) or a physical therapist who was given the specific instructions by athletic trainers. At the time of the medical interview, 25 of the 62 players suffered from sports injuries that kept them out of practice for more than one day or interfered with their athletic performance. We advised 10 of these players (e.g., back pain with numbness) to seek medical attention. The results of the PPE showed that many of the athletes had flexibility issues, and the physical conditioning instruction in the feedback likewise emphasized flexibility improvement. This activity could be considered essential from the perspective of injury prevention, and will be expanded and continued in the future.

We compared the differences in condition data between freshmen and seniors in college rugby players. sRPE (session-rating of perceived exertion: sRPE) was significantly higher in seniors. The session-rating of perceived exertion (sRPE) was significantly higher in the seniors. sRPE is a subjective measure of exercise intensity, and it was expected to be higher in freshmen than in senior players because of their lower physical and psychological condition levels. However, the opposite was true in this study. This suggests the need for follow-up on the physical and psychological load of seniors in college student sports.

Several weeks of inactivity reduces athletes’ physical fitness and rugby-specific physical and mental preparedness for games and increases the risk of injuries. The purpose of our study was to compare the injury incidence among youth rugby players before and after the 4th COVID-19 related state of emergency declaration in Japan. The injury rate in the four-week post-declaration period (10.0/1000 athlete-exposure [AE], 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.3-19.6) was not significantly different from the ten-week pre-declaration period (7.6/1000AE, 95%CI: 4.1-12.7) with an incidence rate ratio (IRR) of 0.8 (95%CI: 0.3-2.1). A comparison between the four-week post-declaration period and the period from week five through fourteen of post-declaration also did not result in statistically difference (IRR=0.9, 95%CI: 0.4-2.5). Neither the mode of injury onset nor the mechanism of injury in the four-week post-declaration period differed from those of the other periods. Subject of our study were likely to have maintained their physical condition during the voluntary stay-at-home period.

This study compared the injury rate of 117 high school baseball players between the year of 2019 and 2020, in which outside activity was restricted due to COVID-19. The number of injury incidence rates were surveyed for each of the positions for both years. An increase in shoulder and elbow injuries was found during summer, 2020 compared to 2019. The number of ankle and foot injuries also increased during winter, 2020. Also, the number of shoulder and elbow injuries increased in infield players during fall, 2020. The results of this study suggest that continuous injury surveys will be necessary to identify the prevalence of high school baseball injuries for unusual circumstances.

A questionnaire survey was conducted on 223 high school athletes (female volleyball players), focusing on whether or not they had experienced Non-Time-Loss injuries (NTL injuries) that did not result in one or more absences from athletic activities.

The results revealed that 74.3% of the subjects had experienced NTL injuries, and 85.9% of them continued their athletic activities with pain. The results suggest that it is necessary to raise awareness of the need for conditioning to reduce pain in the state of NTL injury, which can be regarded as a preliminary stage before the need to withdraw from athletic activities.

The purpose of this study was to investigate subjective factors related to body control in 119 college baseball players. Thirty-three subjects (28%) answered that “the actual play and my image do not match”. The factor with the highest odds ratio was 35.56 for “decreased somatic sense.” This was followed by 8.05 for “decreased instantaneous power” and 3.74 for “decreased muscle strength”. This suggests that even university students have decreased physical sensation, which may affect their sports movements.