BleacherCoaches.com

New football helmets may cut injury risk
1/10/2006,

The Associated Press:

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Newer helmet technology could reduce the risk of high school football players getting concussions, but not the severity of the injury, according to new research.

A three-year study by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center found that athletes who wore a helmet with more protection for the temple area of the head and jaw had fewer concussions than those wearing a standard helmet, said university neuropsychologist Micky Collins, the study's principal investigator.

The study, published in the February edition of the scientific journal, Neurosurgery, looked at 2,141 high school football players from 2002 to 2004. Of those, 1,173 wore the improved helmet and 968 wore standard helmets through both the pre- and regular seasons.

The study, funded by helmet maker Riddell, is the first to look at whether helmet technology can reduce the severity or number of concussions, Collins said.

The study showed the annual concussion rate was 5.3 percent in athletes wearing the new Revolution helmet and 7.6 percent in the older version. Revolution wearers were 31 percent less likely to sustain the an injury, compared with wearers of standard helmets, the study showed. The Revolution helmet was introduced in 2002.

However, helmet type made no difference in the recovery time of athletes suffering from concussions, Collins said.

Investigators used a test developed by UPMC to check the athletes' reaction and memory skills before and after concussions.

Collins said 50 percent of the athletes who had concussions did not recover within one week, 30 percent did not recover within two weeks and 15 percent did not recover within three weeks.

This is crucial because reduced cognitive skills also hurt the athletes in the classroom, Collins said.

"There's no such thing as a concussion-proof helmet," Collins warned. "The biggest mistake anyone can make is saying, 'This kid has a concussion. Put him in this helmet and send him out there.' ... Any athlete who has a concussion and goes back to play too soon, that's when the risk levels are high."

Experts studying sports-related brain injuries welcomed the study.

"(It) supports what we have anecdotally been discovering over the past few years," said Kevin Guskiewicz, chairman of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at North Carolina.

Fewer concussions were reported among University of North Carolina players wearing Revolution helmets, he said.

Stefan Duma, director of the Center for Injury Biomechanics at Virginia Tech, called the UPMC study "a critical aspect in improving player health."

Duma and Guskiewicz are involved in separate studies to measure the acceleration of football players' heads in real time by installing wireless transmitters in their players' helmets, both Revolution and standard.

Guskiewicz said he hopes studies like his and UPMC's help researchers to better protect the brain from sports related injuries.

"The exciting part is it indicates there are design factors that can be modified to reduce your risk of concussion," Duma said. "Just showing they have shown a reduced risk with design change, maybe they can change the design more and keep improving."

"THE CHOPS".

Bedford has had those helmets for 3 years now. Do they work? They fit nicer on your head, I know that for sure. Do they prevent concussions? maybe, but not by much. I know I had one my senior year, as did another player. Infact, his was so bad, his year was over, and he had the new helmet as well.

I don't care what kind of helmet you have on, if you sustain a concussion it's going to take the same amount of recovery time as it did before, based on the severity. The Revolution helmet is probably the best one out right now, but they can only get better IMO.

but they can only get better IMO

thank you ham for informing us all that Riddell will no longer produce new helmets that are actually worse than the old helmets they are replacing.

Hey, I said they can improve. I don't know one company that's trying to make things go backwards. Even more so when it's protecting young adults heads. Take more things out of context, you're starting to sound like a Pitt fan.

The Riddell Revolution is the safest football helmet on the market today.

After three years, Riddell has successfully achieved what they set out to do - reduce the amount of concussions versus other helmets. The question of reducing recovery time was never the intent of Riddell, as it's been medically proven once a concussion occurs, it won't matter what equipment one was wearing.

Along the same lines, I wonder (mostly at the High School level) why schools choose to purchase a helmet other than Riddell. We endlessly hear about the "safety" of our athletes, yet decisions on equipment that protect the brain and skull are being made because of dollars, rather than factual studies.

For example, both Johnstown High and Penn Cambria use helmets other than Riddell. The Trojans have taken steps toward replacing the Schutt DNA helmets they currently wear (same helmet PSU wears), as many Riddell Revolutions have been purchased over the past year. As for Penn Cambria, they chose to purchase the Adams brand helmet for the entire football program... why? The Adams helmet's claim to fame is that it has the lightest shell on the market. What they don't advertise is that it's also the thinnest, providing less barrier between the actual helmet and brain.

It seems as though all helmet manufacturers are taking steps towards becoming safer, however, I look no further than the NFL when making purchasing decisions for my athletic program. How many NFL players wear a Schutt DNA helmet? (I have yet to see one). How many NFL players wear the Adams brand? (2, the kicker for the Ravens and a lineman for the Buccaneers).

In my opinion, the NFL team doctors are more intelligent that anyone else in the professional sports world. If those doctors put their players in a Riddell, I will do the same.

i agree the riddell helmets are more comfortable and help to prevent concussions but they need to try to make the outer shell a little tougher. i've worn one for the last 2 years and both years the outer shell has cracked. i know other players that have had their helmets crack as well.

...yuor not supposed to run into the locker room walls with the helmets. thats probly why theyre cracking :lol:

Now i could be wrong, but i heard from my athletic trainer that the Schutt DNA is the helmet that Penn State uses because they did studies and found it is actually safer than a revolution. But i play h.s. football currently, and ive never had a concussion and have worn a revolution, and they are much more comfortable and light than your standard riddell helmet. And with the thing about helmets cracking, i have seen that too, like 3 players on my team this year had cracked helmets, luckily they got cracked during practice though, lol.