Concussions, cuts and cracked bones: A systematic literature review on protective headgear and head injury prevention in Olympic boxing

Anne Tjønndal, Reinhard Haudenhuyse, Bas de Geus, Luk Buyse

Onderzoeksoutput: Articlepeer review

18 Citaten (Scopus)

Samenvatting

In 2013, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) prohibited the use of headguards for elite male Olympic boxing competitions. Could the removal of the headguard from elite male boxing competitions potentially cause increased injury risk for boxers? The aim of the literature review is to analyse current knowledge about the use of protective headgear and injury prevention in boxing, in order to determine if there are increased injury risks associated with headguard use. Peer-reviewed studies (language: English, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Dutch) published from 1980 and onwards were considered. Five academic databases and grey literature sources were searched, and articles were assessed for methodological quality. Only studies that included boxers as the study population with headguards as a factor were considered. A total of 39 articles were included in the review. The analysis of the reviewed literature indicates that headguards protect well against lacerations and skull fractures, while less is known about the protective effects against concussion and other traumatic brain injuries. Most of the analysed studies however use indirect evidence, obtained through self-report or observational techniques with relatively small non-representative samples. There are almost no randomised control trials, longitudinal research designs or samples from recreational boxing. Therefore, AIBA's decision to remove the headguard has to be seen with caution and injury rates among (male) boxers should be continuously evaluated.

Originele taal-2English
Pagina's (van-tot)447-459
Aantal pagina's13
TijdschriftEuropean Journal of Sport Science
Volume22
Nummer van het tijdschrift3
DOI's
StatusPublished - 19 feb 2021

Bibliografische nota

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Brussels Center for Urban Studies for inviting Dr. Anne Tjønndal for a 3 month stay at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in the fall of 2018 as a visiting researcher. This research stay facilitated the collaboration between the authors of this paper. In addition, we thank the reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Copyright:
Copyright 2022 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

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