The Effect of Headgear on Visual and Sensory Performance Outcomes in Female Lacrosse Players

Undergraduates: Kathleen Morrisroe, Elizabeth Teel Cassie Ford

Faculty Advisor: Jason Mihalik
Department: Exercise & Sport Science

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While athletic headgear can reduce the risk of catastrophic brain injury, little research has identified how different types affect an athlete¿¿¿s visual field. Vision is a key component of injury risk and performance, so understanding the effect of headgear on vision is critical for athletic safety and success. The purpose of this study is to determine if headgear affects visual and sensory performance in college-aged female lacrosse players. Twelve healthy female participants (age 20.6 ¿¿0.9 yrs) completed ten assessments of visual and sensory performance on the Sensory Senaptec Station under three conditions: no headgear, full-helmet, and goggles. Testing was completed in one session, and condition order was randomized to minimize fatigue and learning effects. Results from the Senaptec tests were submitted to separate one-way repeated-measures ANOVAs with condition as the single factor. There was a significant effect of headgear on several of the sensory performance tests. In all cases, performance showed a decrement when participants were wearing goggles relative to no headgear; but there was no difference between goggles vs. helmet, or between helmet vs. no helmet. Additionally, there was no difference across conditions for the tests that measure visual performance. These results do not conclusively show that headgear diminishes performance; however, given that outcomes did decrease for some tests when goggles were present, they may not be the safest option.