Can helmet design reduce the risk of concussion in football?

Of all sports, football accounts for the highest incidence of concussion in the US due to the large number of athletes participating and the nature of the sport. While there is general agreement that concussion incidence can be reduced through rule changes and teaching proper tackling technique, there remains debate as to whether helmet design may also reduce the incidence of concussion. A retrospective analysis was performed of head impact data collected from 1833 collegiate football players who were instrumented with helmet-mounted accelerometer arrays for games and practices. Data were collected between 2005 and 2010 from 8 collegiate football teams: Virginia Tech, University of North Carolina, University of Oklahoma, Dartmouth College, Brown University, University of Minnesota, Indiana University, and University of Illinois. Concussion rates were compared between players wearing Riddell VSR4 and Riddell Revolution helmets while controlling for the head impact exposure of each player. A total of 1,281,444 head impacts were recorded, from which 64 concussions were diagnosed. The relative risk of sustaining a concussion in a Revolution helmet compared with a VSR4 helmet was 46.1% (95% CI 28.1%–75.8%). When controlling for each player’s exposure to head impact, a significant difference was found between concussion rates for players in VSR4 and Revolution helmets (χ2 = 4.68, p = 0.0305). This study illustrates that differences in the ability to reduce concussion risk exist between helmet models in football. Although helmet design may never prevent all concussions from occurring in football, evidence illustrates that it can reduce the incidence of this injury

Timing of Concussion Diagnosis Is Related to Head Impact Exposure Prior to Injury

Concussions are commonly undiagnosed in an athletic environment because the post-injury signs and symptoms may be mild, masked by the subject, or unrecognized. This study compares measures of head impact frequency, location and kinematic response prior to cases of immediate and delayed concussion diagnosis

Head Impact Exposure Sustained by Football Players on Days of Diagnosed Concussion

This study compares the frequency and severity of head impacts sustained by football players on days with and without diagnosed concussion and to identify the sensitivity and specificity of single impact severity measures to diagnosed injury

Can helmet design reduce the risk of concussion in football?

Of all sports, football accounts for the highest incidence of concussion in the US due to the large number of athletes participating and the nature of the sport. While there is general agreement that concussion incidence can be reduced through rule changes and teaching proper tackling technique, there remains debate as to whether helmet design may also reduce the incidence of concussion. A retrospective analysis was performed of head impact data collected from 1833 collegiate football players who were instrumented with helmet-mounted accelerometer arrays for games and practices. Data were collected between 2005 and 2010 from 8 collegiate football teams: Virginia Tech, University of North Carolina, University of Oklahoma, Dartmouth College, Brown University, University of Minnesota, Indiana University, and University of Illinois. Concussion rates were compared between players wearing Riddell VSR4 and Riddell Revolution helmets while controlling for the head impact exposure of each player. A total of 1,281,444 head impacts were recorded, from which 64 concussions were diagnosed. The relative risk of sustaining a concussion in a Revolution helmet compared with a VSR4 helmet was 46.1% (95% CI 28.1%–75.8%). When controlling for each player’s exposure to head impact, a significant difference was found between concussion rates for players in VSR4 and Revolution helmets (χ2 = 4.68, p = 0.0305). This study illustrates that differences in the ability to reduce concussion risk exist between helmet models in football. Although helmet design may never prevent all concussions from occurring in football, evidence illustrates that it can reduce the incidence of this injury

Timing of Concussion Diagnosis Is Related to Head Impact Exposure Prior to Injury

PURPOSE: Concussions are commonly undiagnosed in an athletic environment because the post-injury signs and symptoms may be mild, masked by the subject, or unrecognized. This study compares measures of head impact frequency, location and kinematic response prior to cases of immediate and delayed concussion diagnosis. METHODS: Football players from eight collegiate and six high school teams wore instrumented helmets during play (n=1,208), of which ninety-five were diagnosed with concussion (105 total cases). Acceleration data recorded by the instrumented helmets was reduced to five kinematic metrics: peak linear and rotational acceleration, GSI, HIC(15), and change in head velocity (Δv). Additionally, each impact was assigned to one of four general location regions (Front, Back, Side, and Top), and the number of impacts sustained prior to injury was calculated over two time periods (one and seven days). RESULTS: All head kinematic measures associated with injury, except peak rotational acceleration (p = 0.284), were significantly higher for cases of immediate diagnosis than delayed diagnosis (p<0.05). Players with delayed diagnosis sustained a significantly higher number of head impacts on the day of injury (32.9 ±24.9; p < 0.001) and within seven days of injury (69.7 ±43.3; p = 0.006) than players with immediate diagnosis (16.5 ±15.1 and 50.2 ±43.6). Impacts associated with concussion occurred most frequently to the Front of the head (46%) followed by the Top (25%), Side (16%), and Back (13%) with the number of impacts by location independent of temporal diagnosis (χ(2)(3) = 4.72; p = 0.19). CONCLUSIONS: Concussions diagnosed immediately after an impact event are associated with the highest kinematic measures, while those characterized by delayed diagnosis are preceded by a higher number of impacts

Head Impact Exposure Sustained by Football Players on Days of Diagnosed Concussion

PURPOSE: This study compares the frequency and severity of head impacts sustained by football players on days with and without diagnosed concussion and to identify the sensitivity and specificity of single impact severity measures to diagnosed injury. METHODS: 1,208 players from eight collegiate and six high school football teams wore instrumented helmets to measure head impacts during all team sessions, of which 95 players were diagnosed with concussion. Eight players sustained two injuries and one three, providing 105 injury cases. Measures of head kinematics (peak linear and rotational acceleration, Gadd Severity Index (GSI), Head Injury Criteria (HIC(15)), change in head velocity (Δv)) and the number of head impacts sustained by individual players were compared between days with and without diagnosed concussion. Receiver operator characteristic curves were generated to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of each kinematic measure to diagnosed concussion using only those impacts that directly preceded diagnosis. RESULTS: Players sustained a higher frequency of impacts and impacts with more severe kinematic properties on days of diagnosed concussion than on days without diagnosed concussion. Forty-five injury cases were immediately diagnosed following head impact. For these cases, peak linear acceleration and HIC(15) were most sensitive to immediately diagnosed concussion (AUC = 0.983). Peak rotational acceleration was less sensitive to diagnosed injury than all other kinematic measures (p = 0.01) which are derived from linear acceleration (peak linear, HIC(15), GSI, and Δv). CONCLUSIONS: Players sustain more impacts and impacts of higher severity on days of diagnosed concussion than on days without diagnosed concussion. Additionally, of historical measures of impact severity, those associated with peak linear acceleration are the best predictors of immediately diagnosed concussion

Size delays female senescence in a medium sized marsupial: the effects of maternal traits on annual fecundity in the northern brown bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus)

The degree to which females allocate resources between current reproduction, future fecundity and survival is a central theme in life history theory. We investigated two hypotheses proposed to explain patterns of reproductive investment, terminal investment and senescence, by examining the effects of maternal traits (age and maternal mass) on annual fecundity in female northern brown bandicoots, Isoodon macrourus (Marsupialia: Peramelidae). We found that annual fecundity in females declined in their final year of reproduction, indicating reproductive senescence. Maternal mass significantly influenced the rate of senescence and, in turn, a female's lifetime reproductive output. Mass had little effect on fecundity in 1st and 2nd year females, but a positive relationship with fecundity in 3rd year females. This meant that heavy, 3rd year females did not suffer the decline in fecundity shown in light 3rd year females. For 1st year females, mass and leg length increased between their first and second reproductive seasons, indicating a temporary shift, from the allocation of resources to reproduction, to increasing condition or structural size post their first breeding event. There were no net changes to body mass in subsequent years. We suggest that this year of post-reproductive growth has important consequences for senescent effects on reproduction. Overall, results provided support for the effects of senescence on annual fecundity. Our findings were not consistent with the terminal investment hypothesis; reproductive output did not increase in females' final reproductive season despite a rapid decline in survival. However, this notion cannot be entirely dismissed; other measures of reproductive performance not examined here (e.g. offspring mass) may have provided an indication that females did increase their effort at the end of their lifespan. This study highlights the difficulty of measuring reproductive costs and the importance of understanding the combined effects of specific characteristics of an individual when interpreting reproductive strategies in iteroparous organisms