Over the last 30 years, improved helmets have all but eliminated fatal traumatic brain injuries from both professional and amateur football. Now a new generation of helmets may reduce concussions too.
STANDARDS
Tough but voluntary requirements set by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment have helped cut brain-injury fatalities in all of football from 36 in 1968 to near zero in recent years. But helmet makers are just now starting to tackle the problem of concussions, caused by jarring accelerations and decelerations of the brain within the skull. “Your brain doesn’t care if it’s going from speed to no speed or from no speed to speed,” says Chris Withnall, senior engineer at Biokinetics, a Canadian company that has conducted helmet studies for the National Football League. “It’s the sudden change in velocity that’s devastating.” Although better helmets have helped bring down the number of NFL concussions from ...
