Not All Football Helmets Are Equal

Improved design can result in fewer concussions.

Although the Super Bowl is over, interest continues in football-related concussions, including whether they can be avoided or decreased. These researchers used retrospective data from helmet-mounted accelerometers (see also NEJM JW Psychiatry Jan 9 2014) on two models of Riddell helmets to analyze them for concussion risk and high-magnitude (>99th percentile) impacts. Some authors have proprietary interests in the accelerometers.

Data were obtained for 1,281,444 head impacts in eight collegiate football teams over five seasons (N=1833 players). Only 64 concussions were diagnosed in this time period. Even though players using the VSR4 helmet had fewer impacts overall, they experienced more-frequent high impacts compared with players using the…

Reviewing Author

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Not All Football Helmets Are Equal

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Reviewing Author