Several of you seem to have appreciated some of my threads about UNI Swimming and Diving, so I thought I would start another one that is more academic in nature.
UNIdaughter did her Honors thesis on concussions in women's collegiate diving (she has a personal interest in the subject). After following her all over the country for diving meets, it was very fun to go to Cedar Falls recently to hear her present and defend her thesis. She even let me ask questions . . . very brave.
Among the interesting findings (sorry I don't have the exact numbers with me):
More than 50% of the collegiate divers who responded to her survey said they have had concussions. More than 50%! She explained that divers who had concussions are more likely to respond to her survey. Yet, even if all the divers who didn't respond to her survey did not have concussions, the rate of concussions in diving (25%) would still be higher than for football (15%) and women's soccer. Of course, there are all sorts of research variables to consider that are beyond the scope of an undergraduate thesis, but her findings certainly made me sit up and take notice.
More than 80% of the concussions came from hitting the water, not the board. Most people think that water is "soft," but not when you are coming from 3 meters up, doing somersaults as fast as you can, and entering the water at 30 mph. The most common dive in which concussions occurred was the triple somersault in pike position. UNIdaughter's concussion came when she got lost in a twister dive and went in the water on her temple. There is a reason why divers go hands first, not head first . . and why many wear wrist-guards. UI's diving well has an incredible feature called the "bubbler" that creates huge amounts of bubbles from the bottom in order to create a "softer" surface for divers still learning dives from 10 meters. Someday I hope to see it in operation. I thought it was to lessen the pain of belly flops, but hadn't thought about how it would help lessen head impact. UNIdaughter says the UI diving well has one of her favorite features . . . a big black chokeye logo on the bottom that helps her spot the water and know when to come out of the spin in the middle of a dive. She says rooms with blue walls that are the same color as the water are the worst.
She is hoping to get her research published in a coach's journal and maybe do some further research in her graduate program during the next few years.
UNIdaughter did her Honors thesis on concussions in women's collegiate diving (she has a personal interest in the subject). After following her all over the country for diving meets, it was very fun to go to Cedar Falls recently to hear her present and defend her thesis. She even let me ask questions . . . very brave.
Among the interesting findings (sorry I don't have the exact numbers with me):
More than 50% of the collegiate divers who responded to her survey said they have had concussions. More than 50%! She explained that divers who had concussions are more likely to respond to her survey. Yet, even if all the divers who didn't respond to her survey did not have concussions, the rate of concussions in diving (25%) would still be higher than for football (15%) and women's soccer. Of course, there are all sorts of research variables to consider that are beyond the scope of an undergraduate thesis, but her findings certainly made me sit up and take notice.
More than 80% of the concussions came from hitting the water, not the board. Most people think that water is "soft," but not when you are coming from 3 meters up, doing somersaults as fast as you can, and entering the water at 30 mph. The most common dive in which concussions occurred was the triple somersault in pike position. UNIdaughter's concussion came when she got lost in a twister dive and went in the water on her temple. There is a reason why divers go hands first, not head first . . and why many wear wrist-guards. UI's diving well has an incredible feature called the "bubbler" that creates huge amounts of bubbles from the bottom in order to create a "softer" surface for divers still learning dives from 10 meters. Someday I hope to see it in operation. I thought it was to lessen the pain of belly flops, but hadn't thought about how it would help lessen head impact. UNIdaughter says the UI diving well has one of her favorite features . . . a big black chokeye logo on the bottom that helps her spot the water and know when to come out of the spin in the middle of a dive. She says rooms with blue walls that are the same color as the water are the worst.
She is hoping to get her research published in a coach's journal and maybe do some further research in her graduate program during the next few years.
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