# How do the neck muscles influence head acceleration during sport-associated impact events in high school athletes?

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $618,035

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Sport-related concussion is a common and serious injury in the ~7.8 million student-athletes who compete at
the high school level each year in the U.S. A successful strategy for reducing the risk of concussion and its
associated adverse short- and long-term consequences in this population would advance the mission of
enhancing health, reducing illness and disability, and promoting children’s chances to achieve their full
potential for healthy and productive lives. Neck strengthening exercise may represent such an intervention.
Athletes with smaller, weaker necks are thought to be at increased risk for concussion because their necks are
less able to counter the forces acting on their heads during sport-associated collisions, leading to greater
resultant net head accelerations. However, our understanding of the mechanism governing the neck’s
influence over head acceleration remains incomplete, and the potential for this relationship to be modified by
exercise remains unclear. These questions must be answered before neck strengthening exercise programs
can be optimized to reduce athletes’ risk of concussion. The proposed mechanistic prospective clinical trial will
pursue the following specific aims: AIM 1) to determine the effect of manual resistance neck strengthening
exercise on neck strength, cervical muscle volume, and net head acceleration under multiple simulated sport-
associated impact conditions; AIM 2) to determine the relative influences of neck strength and cervical muscle
volume on net head acceleration during simulated sport-associated impacts to the head and body, with and
without volitional anticipatory cervical muscle pre-contraction to brace for the impact. The approach to AIM 1
will be to serially reassess the effects of a low or high intensity manual resistance neck strengthening exercise
program on key cervical muscle attributes and net head acceleration under each impact condition.
Assessments will be performed in 108 high school athletes at baseline and upon completion of 4, 8, and 12
weeks of the exercise intervention, with comparison to a control group participating in a “shoulders-down”
exercise program not specifically targeting the neck. The approach to AIM 2 will be to compare the R2 values
of statistical models using baseline data collected with and without anticipatory cervical muscle pre-contraction
to predict net head acceleration based on either neck strength, cervical muscle volume, or both. This research
is expected to establish dose-response relationships for manual resistance neck strengthening exercise on
neck strength, cervical muscle volume, and net head acceleration, as well as define the mechanism by which
the neck controls head acceleration during impacts to the head and body with and without anticipatory cervical
muscle pre-contraction to brace for the impact. This work will provide important mechanistic insight about how
the cervical muscles resist head acceleration that will ult...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9974527
- **Project number:** 5R01HD093733-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** James Travis Eckner
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $618,035
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-28 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9974527

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9974527, How do the neck muscles influence head acceleration during sport-associated impact events in high school athletes? (5R01HD093733-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9974527. Licensed CC0.

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