Helmet-To-Helmet Collisions In American Football

Every part of the game of football means very much to me, which is why I have a passion for the game and why I researched this topic. Helmets are one of the most important pieces of safety gear a football player can have. In October 2010, a new rule was signed off to be placed in the National Football League (NFL) rule book for the safety of NFL players. The helmet-to-helmet hit rule is as follow: using any part of the helmet to butt, spear, or ram any part of the opponent’s helmet (Azpiri). A helmet-to-helmet hit is illegal in the NFL now. The punishment for a helmet-to-helmet hit for a NFL player is being fine with a gradual increase the next times they do it and/or suspension depending on the

For example the author of "Weighing the Risks" states "Players experienced an increase in head injuries in 2015. During practices and games, they endured 271 concussions." The author of "Let Them Play" attempts to counter this by saying " a brain injury can result when a player uses his helmet to hit another player in the helmet. This is a “helmet-to-helmet hit”, and the NFL’s rules impose a penalty on a player who uses this tactic. The illegal hit may cost the player’s team an advantage, or the player may be expelled from the game." However there are many other ways to receive a head injury in football. These are some reasons why I think some professional sports are too dangerous for the players that

The problem with helmet-to-helmet hits is that it is too dangerous for the player being hit and the player doing the hitting. “You could have a helmet with 6 inches thick of padding and it will not change a thing”(Essay about). Because of the speed and force of the impact it takes to tackle someone, it can still be life threatening. So there’s really no way to make a helmet-to-helmet hit safe.

Professional football have been getting better padding and getting better helmets and a kind strap to protect there head neck and back to prevent injury from happening as shown in the passage ''Let Them Play''.In the text'' Let Them Play'' it states ''The US Army Research Laboratory in baltimore is looking at using specially designed straps that would attach the helmet to the body-similar to suspenders.The concept is to avoid sudden head motion and brain injury''. There gear is made from the same gear that NASCAR and military people wear so if it protects them it should protect the football players . In NASCAR there tires can come off the cars can flip and the cars can get hit and the driver inside will still be alive and in football it is

There has been extraordinary improvements of helmets from the old leather to the modernized-plastic football helmets along with the face mask and energy- absorbent padding. In addition, the concern over preventing concussions, have led to helmet changes, impact testing methods and reconstruction of injuries during play helping to provide insight on concussions(4). Helmets have been successful in decreasing the risk of traumatic brain injuries, but there is much concern over concussion; therefore, scholars argue the importance of technology development to address concussion(5). As the author(s), David Viano and David Halstead discusses, there is room needed for understanding the types of collisions associated in youths and the impact condition addressing collisions. There are many variables to consider addressing concussion and where they occur.

The objective was to make a football helmet that is flexible, lightweight and has good padding to keep concussions to a minimal, most concussions happen when the player hits the ground, it is usually from contact with another player, but can also be from a player hitting the ground. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury, although concussions can be minor or major problems. This is why football players wear helmets to try prevent brain injuries.

New surveys and data reports showing that repeated trauma to the head can cause CTE which seriously affects the brain and human body overall. Symptoms such as dizziness all the way to the most extreme like loss of motor function, dementia, etc. With all of the recent buzz about this phenomenon, The NFL, NCAA and state sports committees such as the WIAA have been trying to prevent the future generations of athletes and sports players suffer from these diseases. Acts such as reducing practice time allowing full contact and also schools buying the best helmet protection available shows how schools are really working to help kids across America. In addition, the NFL has publicly shown responsibility for head to head injuries and the lack of supervision and serious along with them. The organization is actively pushing technology to protect the brain as best as

You could have helmet padding 6 inches thick, it's not going to help(Brink). Moving at the speed it takes to tackle somebody, a hit to the head with any amount of padding, could still be life threatening. Concussion hits occur at the center of your head, hits to the side of the head are a couple times weaker. Concussion-causing hits occur at the crown of the head seven and eight times more often than the sides or frontal lobe of the brain, studies there found(Brink). To try and stop concussion causing hits to the head, the NFL has started to fine players who are targeting to hurt. They [increased] suspensions, penalties and fines for intentional hits [to the head]. They're taking very strong action, and they're considering others”(Brink).

Although football is a rough sport there are many solutions to prevent further head injuries.Players have bigger pads, stronger helmets, and more padding. The shoulder pads absorb contact and protect shoulders and rib cage. The neck pad helps keep head stable and protects neck area. The helmet prevents concussions

American football has been around for over one hundred years, and along with the sport has been the need to provide proper safety for the players. An assortment of padding has been instituted in the game that protects against most blunt trauma including blows to the shoulders, mid section, and legs. In an attempt to prevent fracture of the skull, helmets were designed. However, studies have shown that helmets do little to nothing to prevent concussive damage to the brain. A polycarbonate shell is used as the outer housing for regulation football helmets, but along with this material, the materials used on the inside of the helmet are just as, if not more, important. The purpose of this report is to analyze the materials used in current football helmet design and the improvements being made in the field of materials science in order to combat the severe number of concussions suffered by NFL players.

Football can be a very dangerous sport. And although those who play the game believe that they are being protected by the helmets that they wear, the truth is that this may not be the case. In a recent study released by the American Academy of Neurology it has been found that “protection against concussion and complications of brain injury is especially important for young players, including elementary and middle school, high school and college athletes, whose still-developing brains are more susceptible to the lasting effects of trauma”(Science Daily, 2014). The study also found that standard football helmets worn by the majority of players on the field today, only reduce the risk of traumatic brain injury by 20 percent compared to not wearing a helmet at all (Science Daily, 2014).

Safety and equipment have come a long way in football in order to prevent brain injuries. A very important piece of equipment used to prevent brain trauma is the helmet. The helmet has evolved a lot over the years, even more in the past decade. The Helmets main purpose use to be just to stop skull fractures, then they added the facemask to prevent facial injuries. Concussions are more of a recent concern (Hand 1). Overconfidence in the helmets' protective power prompts many NFL athletes to deliver and accept hits that would have killed players of previous generations. Now the helmet is being revolutionized. Helmets aren't only being created to stop skull and face fractures but they are being created to help prevent brain damage such as concussions now. Helmets have gone through testing to see how to design a better preventative helmet. These newer helmets are being designed to reduce the amount of force that is being applied to the head by a hit that is received (Vandantam 2). Virginia Tech football has been monitoring helmet collisions since 2003, courtesy of Dr. Gunnar Brolinson. Dr. Gunnar Brolinson has outfitted the teams helmets with six sensors and a small antenna that records and transmits data to a computer on the sideline. This information collected is crucial because it will help find better ways to design a helmet that will prevent concussions(Goldman 1). Equipment isn't the only important part of football that can help prevent concussions.

Helmets are a major guideline that needs to be improved because a helmet is there to protect the head and prevent concussions but it doesn't seem to be doing a good job. Now there's always that question of “why don't we just make the helmet better and more equipped to prevent concussions?”, well we've had football around for years now and if it hasn't been done yet I don't think it will ever be done. According to the North Eastern Undergraduate Writing Journal, since the 1970s, helmets have been made with a polycarbonate shell, a steel face mask, and padding which is just foam and inflatable air bladders. Even though modern helmets maybe more

Many people that play sports get into some type of injury, the majority of injuries sustained in sports are usually head related. Football has about 118,886 injuries, basketball with 119,589 injuries, and rugby with 1,214 injuries between the years of 2002-20014 and has continued to skyrocket. There are difference between head injuries in football than when playing other sports. These differences can be from minor, moderate, to sever. Football is more on the sever side because of the impact and number of hits they are taking. On the other hand sports like basketball, soccer, and tennis are not as of aggressive as football. And this is due to the lack of contact in the sports. These sports are very strict about the contact when playing in a game, they are charged with a penalty or flagged if a player makes the slightest contact with another player. Therefore you would rarely see a head injury let alone a sever head injury when playing those kind of sports. With football being more aggressive and more contact, the head injuries can lead to a player being hospitalized, and depending on the impact on the blow can lead to death.

Playing football is not like playing other sports. Athletes in all kinds of sports risk injuring themselves, but in football, a lot of the risk comes from other athletes. While there are many ways to be injured playing football, one of the worst is head-to-head targeting. This has been a problem in football since the beginning of the game, especially, when equipment was not very protective. Over the past eight years, the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) has implemented rules and penalties specifically designed to protect players and to hopefully reduce the number of bad head injuries (Marshall). The NCAA is doing the right thing by protecting players from severe injury by calling and enforcing targeting penalties.