Precursors of post-bout motion sickness in adolescent female boxers

Exp Brain Res. 2014 Aug;232(8):2571-9. doi: 10.1007/s00221-014-3910-4. Epub 2014 Mar 27.

Abstract

Athletic head trauma (both concussive and sub-concussive) is common among adolescents. Head trauma often is followed by motion sickness-like symptoms, by changes in cognitive performance, and by changes in standing body sway. We evaluated adolescent female boxers who did and did not report motion sickness after a bout (i.e., a boxing match), together with a control group of non-boxers. We asked whether pre-bout body sway would differ between boxers who experienced post-bout motion sickness and those who did not. In addition, we asked whether pre-bout cognitive performance would differ between non-boxers and boxers with and without post-bout motion sickness. Seven of twenty boxers reported motion sickness after a bout. Pre-bout measures of cognitive performance and body sway were different in boxers who reported post-bout motion sickness than in boxers without post-bout sickness or controls. The results suggest that susceptibility to motion sickness-like symptoms in adolescent female boxers may be manifested in characteristic patterns of body sway and cognitive performance. It may be possible to use pre-bout data to predict susceptibility to post-bout symptoms.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Boxing / injuries*
  • Cognition Disorders / etiology
  • Craniocerebral Trauma / complications*
  • Female
  • Glasgow Coma Scale
  • Humans
  • Motion Sickness / etiology*
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Postural Balance / physiology
  • Sensation Disorders / etiology
  • Statistics, Nonparametric
  • Surveys and Questionnaires