New study finds differences in concussion risk between football helmets

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In football safety news, for years this column has rolled the drums for the idea that although no football helmet can prevent concussions, newer designs reduce the risk. Three years ago at Super Bowl time, I wanted to know why the NFL would not disclose which helmet models its players wear; and why the NFL does not mandate that only improved models be worn: "This is a short-sighted policy TMQ has been objecting to since the Riddell Revolution, the first-generation helmet engineered to reduce concussion risk, went on sale." In July 2011, I detailed Virginia Tech research showing that the Riddell VSR4, the most common helmet, was dangerous compared to newer models. My new book "The King of Sports" details how James Collins, football coach of the public high school nearest my home, junked the school's VSR4s and replaced them with the modern Riddell Revo, owing to safety concerns. Collins did this in 2003, a full decade ago! Yet VSR4s are still on players' heads, including in the NFL.

Helmet manufacturers and the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment -- to which the NFL defers, though NOCSAE seems to function mainly as a rubber-stamp -- criticized the Virginia Tech research as based on lab tests, not real-world data. Fair enough. Last week, Virginia Tech released the results of six years of real-world data comparing total head hits to concussions, by helmet types, at eight Division I college football teams. The finding: Correcting for incidence and severity of hits, a player wearing the Riddell Revo had a 54 percent lower risk of concussion than a player wearing a VSR4.

This study is a bombshell. For many years the NFL and NOCSAE have contended it is impossible to determine whether any particular helmet reduces concussion risk. Virginia Tech has now put hard data on the table. The study is another feather in the cap for Virginia Tech, which has become the national leader in seeking football safety. It also raises disturbing questions regarding whether the NFL has always been more concerned with avoiding legal liability -- the league believes that mandating a helmet type makes it liable for any concussion sustained in that headgear -- than with the health of players.

How many NFL concussions could have been avoided if the league had banned the VSR4? Far more importantly, since the VSR4 has been worn by millions of high school and college players, how many total concussions could have been avoided if NOCSAE did its job and warned about this helmet rather than approving its sale?

New study finds differences in concussion risk between football helmets

January 31, 2014

New study finds differences in concussion risk between football helmets

Virginia Tech at the forefront of safety

BLACKSBURG – Football helmets can be designed to reduce the risk of concussions, according to a new study by some of the nation's leading concussion researchers published today in the Journal of Neurosurgery.

The study analyzed head impact data compiled from eight collegiate football teams that included Virginia Tech, University of North Carolina, University of Oklahoma, Dartmouth College, Brown University, University of Minnesota, Indiana University, and University of Illinois.

Six years of data were collected between 2005 and 2010. During this time a total of 1,833 players wore helmets that were equipped with sensors to measure the biomechanics of over 1 million head impacts. All players either wore a Riddell VSR4 or Riddell Revolution helmet. The researchers compared the rates of concussion between the two helmet types.

The manuscript reports a 54 percent reduction in concussion risk for players in the Riddell Revolution compared to players in the VSR4 helmet. "This is the first study to control for the number of times players hit their heads when comparing helmet types," said Steve Rowson, lead author and an assistant professor in the Virginia Tech -- Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. "No previous study has been able to account for this variable. Controlling for head impacts allows you to compare apples to apples. For example, you're not comparing a player in one helmet who rarely gets hit to a player in another helmet type who frequently gets hit."

The sensors in the helmets measured head acceleration for each impact players experienced. Players in the VSR4 helmets experienced higher head accelerations resulting from impact than players in Revolution helmets. The authors attribute this to the Revolution helmets better modulating the energy transfer from the impact to the head, which results in lower head accelerations. "Helmets that better lower head acceleration reduce concussion risk," Rowson said.

Shoutout to engineers.