thenepatsrule

With the way the NFL is changing the rules to avoid hits i think helmets will become a thing of the past lol

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Jangles

That's amazing that they were able to quantify how many concussions go unreported.

robbomango

Hooking every player up like Juggernaut from the X-men sounds good in theory but in practice it fails miserably. Seems like a leather cap forces players to use caution on any given hit as oppose to padded helmet providing minimal damage accumulated over time or 1 or 2 knock out blows.

Haven't read the article, eating lunch , will do after.

PATSNUTme

No better than leather helmets? That is nuts! Probably on of those "studies " that had a conclusion before they started.

This will date me but the helmets we used in my Freshman and Shop years were trash compared to the "new" Ridell's we got for my Jr. and Sr years.

MaineMan

Seems to me that the leather helmets were like wrapping a thick belt around your fist, whereas modern helmets are like using brass knuckles - except made from high-impact polymer.

The way I understand it via discussions with medical professionals I know, concussions are the result of the brain bouncing around in the skull as a result of sudden deceleration, much as people bounce around in the passenger
compartment of a car after a crash impact.

Automakers have attempted to mediate this by slowing the rate of deceleration of the passengers and re-directing the impact forces around the passenger compartment by designing car bodies/frames to deform/crumple in specific ways. Seems to me that a football helmet similarly designed to deform (instead of a super-hard shell) might help.

Another part of this that I have NOT seen studied is the fact that some people seem to be more concussion-prone than others (beyond those who have already sustained concussions and, thus, perhaps increased their potential for future concussions). Seems to me that some people may simply have more space in their skulls for their brains to slosh around in, making them more vulnerable. It may be that some form of medical screening might be useful to steer those folks away from high-risk sports before they can get injured.

DaBruinz

Talk about a horrible article. They claim that the "leather helmets performed as well as or slightly better than" the Plastic shell helmets, yet they don't give you any sort of measurement to say what they were basing that conclusion on?

Not only that, but the dentist from Massachusetts who developed that mouth guard that prevents concussions basically showed that the jaw slamming back was as much of a factor as the hit to the head.

robbomango

Spot on, they add high absorption foams to decrease the effects of reverb from hard plastics but it only prolongs the problem.

The point I didn't finish making with Juggernaut goes as follows:

The helmet worn by the X-man villain Juggernaut allows him to smash threw most any conceivable wall without head injury but what happens if a larger bigger Juggernaut type character smashes into him wearing the same helmet?

An eternity of head banging collisions with zero negative results in a comic book but in real life it results in injury. Like a mac truck smashing into a smaller vehicle, some ones going down and it's usually the smaller of the 2.

In football it's most likely an offensive player on the receiving of an unanticipated hit, a smaller player or a defensive guy making those hits every other play.

In summary, I don't see solution for helmet design. 300lb Player A will more times than not always knock down and or out 185lb player B. Maybe I'm wrong, Rams crack horns, not really brain-to-brain/head-to-head contact but who knows.

eom

I'm pretty sure juggernaut had a magical aura around him rendering him invilnerable.

like the rings of ragnarok, or something like that.

ivanvamp

It would seem incredible to me that today's helmets don't protect people better than leather helmets.

But one negative of today's equipment is that it turns these players into heat-seeking missiles. Guys don't just tackle today; they are looking to obliterate other players. They do it partially because they think they're better protected with the pads and helmets they wear.

I've never played football. I know a lot of football and rugby players, however, and they all say that there are fewer serious injuries in rugby, despite not wearing padding or helmets, precisely because the objective is to tackle, not destroy, your opponent.

I would suspect if they went back to leather helmets that players would not lower their heads and use them as weapons when trying to take down a ballcarrier. So in the end, you might end up seeing fewer concussions.

Tunescribe

Your post reminded me of my sophomore season in high school. I injured my neck early on and was fitted with a foam collar. The way it fit, my helmet sort of sat on top of it. So there was a bit of space between my head and the helmet, which at that time didn't fit "snugly" because of the collar. It actually was kind of cool. I was in this sort of protective "enclosure" and never felt anything in my head or neck area during contact. I wonder if fashioning a system that can prevent ANY collision energy from being absorbed by the head is possible.

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