Head injuries in football

[56BISON73]

There was an excellent article in The New Yorker a couple of years ago that went into football helmets. I wish I could find it. Here's what I remember.

Recent research has shown that most concussions in football result from rotary motion of the head, not straight-on or sideways linear impacts as has always been assumed. All helmets are designed to meet test standards developed in the 80's that assume linear motion. No manufacturer wants anything to do with updating the test standards (and hence their designs) to support the new research, because that would be an admission that their products are faulty. Today, they can say, "not our fault, they're certified". Somehow, that vicious circle needs to be broken so that players can have more effective helmets.

I dont know how they can be more effective. Any ideas?

[KilldeerBison]

I dont know how they can be more effective. Any ideas?

Someday we'll be tailgating for a gymnastics meet. Come to think of it, I've seen some bad injuries in gymnastics.

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[LikeMothers]

I dont know how they can be more effective. Any ideas?

Somehow, the space used for foam needs to be used to make a flexible structure that will allow the outside of the helmet to rotate a bit more than the head inside does during a hit. The head will still rotate but it won't be as instantaneous. Slide the skin on the back of your hand. The skin moves while the bones stay in place. Something like that.

[Wally]

I dont know how they can be more effective. Any ideas?

I remember hearing about these. They guardian caps supposedly reduce impact by 33%


http://www.kare11.com/news/extras/ar...ts-concussions

http://guardiancaps.com/

[56BISON73]

Somehow, the space used for foam needs to be used to make a flexible structure that will allow the outside of the helmet to rotate a bit more than the head inside does during a hit. The head will still rotate but it won't be as instantaneous. Slide the skin on the back of your hand. The skin moves while the bones stay in place. Something like that.

There is a flexible structure. The foam is in a plastic inclosure filled with air. There are many of these enclosures in the inside of the helmet. You put the helmet on then the enclosures are filled with an air pump so the helmet is form fitted to your head. Unless this has changed I dont know why they would go back to just foam padding.

[Gully]

I'm pretty sure Kevin Feeney wore one of these for one game back in the day. I remember it coming off for one play and he threw it to the sidelines.

[mebisonII]

You can look at it as an energy dissipation problem. When a large person hits you at a certain speed, the energy your body is absorbing is set, so all you can do is try to to dissipate that energy as must as possible, or redirect it onto structures that can absorb the energy better*. Unfortunately, its pretty hard to dissipate all that much energy in the small amounts of space you have available. The other thing is that no matter what you do to stabilize the head, your soft squishy brains*** are still free to richochet around your head all day long.


*fun fact: woodpeckers stick their lower jaw out when pecking, which takes the impact away from their cranium and instead moves it through the large, strong muscles around the back of their neck. So, football players, lead with your chin!**

**not really. please don't do that. pretend you never heard that.

***The Soft Squishy Brains would be a great band name. Or mascot. Let's go UND. Get on it.

[mebisonII]

Also, if anyone wants to geek out and read some science on the topic, here is a good place to start looking:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?ter...+helmet+impact

Everything there should be free full-text.

[Hammerhead]

Just make smaller spheres like these that let players stick their arms out of the side so they can catch and carry the ball.

[Gully]

Can someone direct me to the "head injuries in soccer" thread? I've heard that is actually a bigger problem. I wonder why there aren't Outside the Lines specials focusing on the awful aspects of that terrible game?