Consequences of Adolescent Sport-Related Concussion and Musculoskeletal Injury: Examining Long-term Impacts on Body Composition and Physical Activity Levels

Date
2024-06-11
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Abstract
Sport-related concussions (SRC) may be encumbering injuries and are experienced in high rates amongst Canadian adolescents participating in sport. Little is known of the long-term effects of SRC in how they may affect both physical activity behaviors and body composition as adults later in life. This thesis examined appropriate algorithms to employ when utilizing Actigraphs as objective measures of free-living physical activity behaviors, and then the body composition levels and physical activity levels of adults (ages 18-33) with a 5–15-year history of either SRC or musculoskeletal (MSK) injury relative to uninjured controls (UC). Data were collected for 268 individuals participating through the SHRed Consequences of Concussion cohort study. Analyses displayed that SRC and MSK injury cohorts relative to UC had comparable body compositions, identified through lean mass and fat mass indices, as well as comparable physical activity behaviors, denoted by daily amounts of sedentary time and light, moderate, moderate-to-vigorous, and vigorous physical activity. This demonstrated that those with adolescent SRC or MSK injury history continue to participate in physically active lifestyles as young adults as evidenced by either maintaining and/or acquiring body compositions and participating in physical activities similar to those without injury history. Future research should take a more granular look at long-term sport-related injury through examining persistent concussion symptoms for those with SRC history as well as type/location of MSK injury in an effort to consider the heterogeneity of these injuries.
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Keywords
sport-related concussion, concussion, young adult, adolescent, long-term health, physical activity, physical activity behaviours, body composition, adiposity
Citation
Leggett, B. T. (2024). Consequences of adolescent sport-related concussion and musculoskeletal injury: examining long-term impacts on body composition and physical activity levels (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.