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We now know about the most protective helmets in football thanks to Best Guide by GameDayr. However, the word concussion evokes more fear these days than ever before. The notion that football helmets can prevent concussions is one of the biggest misconceptions in the sport. they do not.
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Tremors occur when the brain moves inside the skull. The regular helmet only protects the skull from fracture and does not prevent the brain from rattling inside it. The average football player has to suffer thousands of blows in his career. There is growing evidence that frequent shaking can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
The disease is degenerative and can cause serious neurological problems such as memory loss, confusion, aggression, dementia, Alzheimer’s, depression. It’s easy to assume that since the players aren’t bumping into each other – skull to skull, helmets are doing a good job reducing the risk of injury. This is a lie and the science behind it is shocking.
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Scientific implications of wearing a football helmet
Researchers have known for years that helmets do little or nothing to prevent concussion. Studies show that helmets give players a false sense of security—a false-psychological conviction of invincibility. Since they believe that the helmet gives them enough support, they use their heads as a weapon and charge and hit more often. Without a helmet they would feel less confident about safety from danger and would be more alert.
A head without a helmet has its own protection systems. Cerebrospinal fluid surrounds the soft brain and protects it from shock. When the brain is moving at a high speed and comes to a hard halt, this mechanical protection is negligible when dealing with behavior. The rapid change in speed causes the brain to tremble so much inside the skull that cerebrospinal fluid cannot protect it.
And while the helmet’s inner padding was designed to provide extra support, it is not. It only protects the athlete from facial trauma and skull fractures. Studies have shown that padding does not provide adequate cushioning against all shocks.
Effects of Concussion in Football
CTE is a traumatic brain injury caused by repetitive head trauma. ito includes gradual changes In the brain that worsens over time, and may go unnoticed for years and decades after the last brain injury. Common symptoms of CTE include confusion, memory loss, aggression, depression, and dementia. This disorder is often found in athletes who have experienced frequent head injuries. In addition, some former football players who suffered CTE either committed suicide or committed murder.
A blockbusting example of CTE is former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, who committed suicide at age 27 while serving life in prison for murder. The autopsy report revealed that he had a severe case of CTE – the worst case ever reported in such a young man.
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A study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that 117 out of 202 deceased former football players were diagnosed with CTE. There were 111 ex-NFL players in the investigation, and 110 of them were diagnosed with CTE. And while these figures do not make a generalized statement for all former football players, all subjects studied were underrepresented by family members who asked to know whether CTE was the cause of the demise of their loved ones. , it shows that former football players may have developed CTE.
What is happening?
The NFL has changed many rules to make football safer. a kickoff now On the 35-yard line instead of the 30-yard line. Touchback has been moved From the 20-yard to the 25-yard line.
The Crown-of-the-helmet rule (CHR) is a new rule that penalizes defensive players or offensive bowlers who make contact with another player with the top of their helmet. This measure effectively reduces the defensive player’s weekly chance of injury from 29 to 32%, as well as reducing the likelihood of all head and neck injuries by 34%.
- Emerging technologies are on the rise
zero 1
The NFL offers a lot of research grants geared towards finding long-term solutions for concussions. Vicis stepped up to the plate, ran and evolved with the NFL’s outlay zero 1, an innovative helmet designed to address one of football’s biggest problems.
The Zero1 isn’t your typical helmet; It is a multifunctional, flexible helmet, which minimizes linear and angular forces on the head. The exterior looks like a standard helmet but reacts differently when it hits something. The hard armor helmets from Schutt, Riddel, Xenith, etc. remain rigid when hit. However, Zero 1 changes its shape when hit to absorb more impact. Inside it are lots of different columns of padding that deform and absorb force.
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Its multi-layers work together to reduce impact forces before the head and brain rattle. The Zero1 made its debut on the field at the professional and college levels in the 2017–2018 season, and ranked #1 in the NFL/NFLPA 2017 Helmet Laboratory Performance Testing. It was worn by 60 NFL players in 2017, including Alex Smith, Russell Wilson, Golden Tate and Lamar Miller. It was also donated by more than 20 NCAA programs that same year. The helmet costs $950.
- sensor attached mouthguard
Biomedical engineer and former football player David Camarillo thinks the truth about the most important cause of concussions still confuses scientists. he then develops a mouthguard, with gyroscope and accelerometer which every 1000 . measure the speed of the headth of one second. He also collaborates with scientists from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden to see what is happening inside the brain and with data collected on the field.
image credit: Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital
The mouthguard is fitted snugly to the teeth as it is one of the hardest parts of the body and is firmly attached to the skull, allowing it to control how the brain moves inside it. During one test, a player received a forceful blow to the lower left of the headwear, but instead of moving his or her head to the right, as they were expecting, it was first rotated to the left and right like a whiplash. went away. He learned this from mouthguard data.