Improvement in Football Helmet Technology

Head injuries, including concussions, particularly in the game of American football, have become a subject of deep concern, much study and even Congressional hearings in the United States.

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.

Concussions occur on a large scale in football. During a concussion, the head can experience a blow directly or can have whiplash. When the head is hit, the brain hits the inside of the skull, giving it a temporary bruise. This bruise or tearing of the brain can lead to mental impairments that can affect a person’s emotional state of being, physical problems like deteriorated mobility and sensitivity to light and sound. Doctors are quick to point out one of the major reasons that youth receive concussions, saying, “... children have big heads relative to the rest of their bodies and weak necks… that elevates the risk of concussions,” (P6). Along with a lack of education and care for the protection of athletes, youth are already at a huge risk. When children wear their football helmets, they are saving themselves from many injuries that could have occurred without them, most especially protecting the brain. But, in many cases, this is not enough.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) have always been a problem in sports and especially in contact sports like football. Since the beginning of football there has been different styles of head protection, from no helmets at all in very early stages to the modern day helmets we have today. In order to know how the evolution of the football helmet has made head injuries less common than they originally were, we have to know what is a concussion and how someone gets one.

Introduction- Specialized headgear and better concussion protocol should be utilized in high school sports to prevent serious brain injuries.

Concussions while playing football are becoming more common as the ages progress. Coaches teach their players proper form tackling and not to drop your head while hitting a defender. However, many players use the top of their heads in a spear like form to tackle their opponent, causing a large blow directly to the tacklers head. Helmets cannot protect against all of the impact force from the blow, although it takes away most. The remaining force of the blow is concentrated right toward the individual’s head, which can cause a slight concussion. But as the game goes on, the individual continues to drop their head and take repetitive blows, leaving the player concussed. Sometimes it only takes one hit to become concussed depending on the impact of the

Concussion in schools and the NFL are a problem. They can be life-altering injuries, and they have been around for years before anyone became aware of how dangerous they can be. Ever since the discovery of football many athletes have gotten their “bell rung” and doing damage to their brain with no knowledge of it. It has been recently that there has been more talk of understanding how severe concussions can be. Many think it is not a big deal but it is considered a mild form of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The NFL had ignored all the information given to them regard concussion and they need to review their protocol and enforce it. Many players are still playing while

Thankfully, few of the head impacts that most athletes sustain during a collision results in a concussion. As a matter of fact, most are imperceptible to players themselves. In recent years, scientist have been trying to figure out, how can players reduce the amount of concussions they

One issue that is a major part of concussion prevention is how the equipment is actually being processed and the tests done on the equipment to be able to show level of protection that can be provided, such as helmet strength and padding. For many decades, the standards for helmet protection was focused more so on preventing injuries, such as fractured skulls, than it was on concussion preventions. The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) has recently revised its standards for helmet protection. NOCSAE does not make or produce helmets but rather creates and sets the testing standard for the helmet; standard tests include the “drop test” where a weight is dropped onto the helmet from certain heights to test how well the helmet reduces the linear force. Other tests that have recently been added include testing the rotational force a helmet can bare and also helps to simulate any angle that a force may come from, just like a hit during a football game. This is also “…another step forward because rotational forces

Through the course of history, concussions alone have been a major concern to society. Obtaining a concussion means that one took a blow to the head from a ball, punch, an opponent 's shoulder, etc. They can cause memory loss, permanent brain damage, and even death. The NFL (National Football League) has been suspected to be the cause of majority of the concussions presented to this day. Most people, not just athletes, have connections to concussions. Since the mid-twentieth century, major professional sport leagues have responded in different and evolving ways to the issue of concussions and traumatic brain injuries in athletes (Flynn). Playing more contact sports increases the risk of head injuries, but with updated technology, proper training, and research from prior concussion cases can help reduce the risk and rate of concussions.

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).

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.

Concussions are a known fact in the football industry. In addition, it is hard to discover the injuries and the effect upon the player. Battle Sports Science, LLC is trying to promote the niche that

A concussion occurs when a severe blow is taken to the head that results in the brain swelling. Due to the difficulty in diagnosing a concussion, numerous studies have been taken to take a closer look at the impact a football player experiences. One such study was examined through the use of a system named HITS, head impact telemetry system. HITS is a device that is placed inside the helmet of a player and utilizes an accelerometer to determine the magnitude and location of any impact that the player is exposed to. The device then both stores the data and sends the information to a sideline computer that can be decoded by an expert (Zimmerman 343). Data received was grouped in 3 major ways. It was grouped in accordance with session type, game or practice, location of the hit with respect to the helmet, and position of the players (Zimmerman 344). Over a period of 68 sessions, the HITS system recorded 19,224 total impacts for the players studied. The average player experienced 24 hits per game with

Youth athletes experiencing concussions is a very serious matter. When an adolescent first experiences a concussion, they may seem dazed and confused. The adolescent may show signs of dizziness and have trouble recalling basic information. If after a blow to the head an athlete displays these signs, they should stop playing immediately and be taken out of the competition (Khabie 1). But just how prevalent in youth football are concussions? Some claim that most players experience head trauma that will leave a lasting negative effect on the athlete’s brain. Others believe that concussions in youth football are very rare and most of the time have no long term effects on the athlete. Many would say that even if there is risk of injury, football provides many positive opportunities