Equipment

Increased safety in tackle football comes at a cost, leaving many youth and high school programs – and the parents and booster clubs which support them – in a quandary: wondering on the one hand how they can afford to buy expensive new helmets and impact sensor systems for their players, and on the other, how they can afford not to. A car raffle offers a quick and easy way to raise money to buy the latest equipment.

A Michigan based company has developed which it claims reduces the g-force impact of one helmet to another called the S.A.F.E.Clip which replaces the plastic facemask clip which comes standard with a football helmet.

One way to address the problem of chronic under-reporting and increase the chances a concussion will be identified early on the sports sideline, say some leading experts, is to rely less on athletes to remove themselves from games or practices by reporting concussion symptoms, or on game officials and sideline observers to observe signs of concussion, but to use impact sensors as essentially another set of eyes to alert sideline personnel to heavy hits that might cause a concussion.

High school football players who sustain concussions while wearing improperly fitted helmets are at higher risk of experiencing more symptoms and taking longer to recover, with concussions of longer duration also more common in players with an air-bladder helmet. High schools should ensure proper adult oversight of football helmet fit throughout the season, says the study.

The Arena Football League (AFL), in partnership with Brain Sentry, has become the first professional sports league to require helmet-mounted impact sensors to alert sideline personnel to hits that may cause concussion.

A 2014 study (Rowson S, Duma SM, et al 2014) reporting that football helmet design can reduce concussion risk raises more questions than it answers, says Mike Oliver, Executive Director of the National Operating Committee Standards and Equipment (NOCSAE), the non-profit group that sets standards for football helmets.

A new study provides the first good clinical evidence that helmet design can lower the risk of concussion in games and practices but leaves unanswered the practical question faced by football parents, coaches, and administrators: whether a difference in concussion risk reduction exists between currently available helmet models incorporating the latest design features.

The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) board of directors has approved the development of a revised football helmet standard that will require helmets to limit certain concussion-causing forces. The revised standard was approved in June 2014, and will be implemented, after a period of public comment, in June 2016.