He said players are just to fast to strong and to big not to injure each other with today's equipment. He said all equipment made of impact delivering plastics and fiberglass should be replaced with impact absorbing rubber! If the NFL isn't right now experimenting with rubber pads and helmets, then they should do so fast. It would be a dramatic change, but one that would change the sport for the better. It probably won't stop knee injuries much, but I would think concussions, and broken bones would become a rare incident.
Just heard a doctor with a great idea to stop football injuries.
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Helmets , and shoulder pads have a heavy , shock resistant rubber layer below the hard shell layer. Not sure if the hard shell layer is plastic or some other material.
Interestingly, boxers use a 100 % padded (rubber or leather?) protective head gear in amature fights and sparring.
I'm sure the NFL medical investigators are investing lots of time and money looking at this, as they have paid outs LOTS of money for concussions.
Interestingly, boxers use a 100 % padded (rubber or leather?) protective head gear in amature fights and sparring.
I'm sure the NFL medical investigators are investing lots of time and money looking at this, as they have paid outs LOTS of money for concussions.
yea but no concussions!
Maybe. I do not know.
However, what I do not know is why football helmets are not designed like baseball catcher helmets.
Baseball catcher helmets are in TWO pieces: A front piece and a back piece. These pieces are attached/connected with "springs" basically, such that any front impact limits how much the HEAD moves. If a ball hits the front of the helmet, the front piece of the HELMET moves backward, but not the HEAD.
In football, you would probably need stronger "springs" connecting the 2 pieces, but the principle would be the same: Limit as much as possible how much the head moves after impact.
The problem with football is that though the HEAD is protected by the helmet, the BRAIN is not ... when the head is hit, the brain rattles around inside the skull. Helmets should be designed to limit the HEAD moving, or limit the effect of head movement, so the brain rattles around in the skull with much less violence or force. A 2-piece helmet with these "springs" connecting them would not prevent the force of the brain rattling with a football hit, but it should limit it, or mitigate it.
These helmets would not protect against a side hit, but I see no reason why they would not help a lot with frontal and back hits.
Experiment with colored rubber patches that match the color of the helmet
Perhaps a rubber patch on the forehead, and top of the helmet, Both sides and rear back of the helmet
Perhaps a rubber patch on the forehead, and top of the helmet, Both sides and rear back of the helmet
interesting subject in light of yet another spinal injury on a kick off last night in the Southern University vs. University of Georgia game yesterday;
http://247sports.com/Bolt/Injury-Update-The-latest-on-Southern-WR-Devon-Gales-39750482
http://247sports.com/Bolt/Injury-Update-The-latest-on-Southern-WR-Devon-Gales-39750482
Sorry, this isn't really correct.
Mechanism of injury as relates to internal organs is 100% about acceleration. Your catcher's helmet example doesn't apply because a catcher's head is never moving, therefore the catcher's brain is never moving. The only thing moving is the ball. When you get hit in the head with a ball, the mechanism of injury is completely different from a closed head injury sustained while you are in motion. Those helmets wouldn't help football players.
The rubber idea is crude. but there's some logic behind it. Preventing internal injuries (brain and other organs) from decelerative MOIs is all about reducing the rate of deceleration, i.e. absorbing the impact.
The best analog is a car. Back in the days when cars were basically two-ton blocks of steel a lot of people died from internal injuries because the car would collide with something and would, itself, absorb very little of the impact. The collision forces get transferred, instead, to the vehicle occupants. They would, per Mr. Newton, tend to remain in motion until they meet with something that stopped them (seat belt, dashboard, windshield, concrete, whatever). At that point, their internal organs would tend to remain in motion until something stopped them - rib cage, cranium, etc. The impact forces are then terminally transferred to the organs, causing catastrophic internal injuries.
Fast forward to today and you see collision energy being absorbed by the vehicle's structure. This serves to reduce the impact forces which are transferred to the occupants and reduce internal injuries.
As relates to a football helmet, when your head hits something there would seem to be insufficient impact absorption within the helmet itself. The shell of the helmet has zero energy absorbing properties, so all it can do is transfer energy to what's inside it - some amount of padding and your brain. If we choose to consider that there are too many concussions among football players then the construction of the helmet has to change.
There are plastics available that are "soft touch" but which maintain their shape and are impact resistant. If you have a high-priced car, you probably have seen such materials. Fabricating helmet shells out of a material such as that might be a good place to start.
Another idea is to have piston rods on each side of the face mask that are about just a little bigger than the mask rubber coated wire.
JT Tartacoff's father is a doctor, as is the father of the frosh phenom QB at UCLA Josh Rosen.
Now, about climate change ...
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A better way would be to reduce substitutions and to stop over-beefing with heavy weight training. Heavy weight training constantly stresses the body at its failure points as players mature. Overstressing points of failure creates more problems. Players also get too big/strong for their frames. If many of these guys had to play all game they would get tired out. Substituting a lot lets them keep going. its the interior players and WRs who get most injuries. A lot of those lineman injuries aren't impact injuries but big slobs falling on each other - especially the back of legs for OL.
A MBA prof at RU is a co-founder of a company that is working on new helmet technology.
I'll post a link if I can find it.
The technology is along the lines of what @RU4Real is talking about. Not sure if it is borrowed from the automative world or not.
There are about a half dozen well funded companies that are fighting to be first to market. Believe it or not (well, it's the NFL so you'll probably believe it) he said that the biggest impediment in getting to market (ie: the NFL will consider it) has been aesthetics. All of the negative feedback he's gotten from the league has been related to how different it looks from existing helmets.
He says the technology to protect the brain is "easy."
I'll post a link if I can find it.
The technology is along the lines of what @RU4Real is talking about. Not sure if it is borrowed from the automative world or not.
There are about a half dozen well funded companies that are fighting to be first to market. Believe it or not (well, it's the NFL so you'll probably believe it) he said that the biggest impediment in getting to market (ie: the NFL will consider it) has been aesthetics. All of the negative feedback he's gotten from the league has been related to how different it looks from existing helmets.
He says the technology to protect the brain is "easy."
The facemask should be removed from the helmets. Yes you would get a few broken noses, but players will stop leading with their helmets once it hurts to do so.
I don't know specifically what Tarkenton said. But I believe the thinking behind the idea of dialing down the padding and protection is that players would be less likely to hurl themselves recklessly, including at opposing players. For instance, a helmet-less player might be less likely to go in head-first.
I'm not necessarily endorsing the idea, I don't have a clue what would happen. But in general I see valid points.
Lowering the head should be a penalty... and of the "yellow card', "red card" variety. Make it apply to both offense and defense, any position at any time. I cannot stand seeing a defender flagged for helmet to helmet contact when the runner lowered his helmet to help make it happen.
Runners would have to run more upright.. tacklers would have to tackle more upright. No one dives for balls, dives for extra yardage... make it illegal to try to tackle with only throwing a shoulder in.. either try to wrap or don't try to tackle at all. it would look different, but the skills needed would still be football skills.
Runners would have to run more upright.. tacklers would have to tackle more upright. No one dives for balls, dives for extra yardage... make it illegal to try to tackle with only throwing a shoulder in.. either try to wrap or don't try to tackle at all. it would look different, but the skills needed would still be football skills.
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As alluded to by the previous posters, it seems that many of the truly devastating injuries are to the spine not the brain. Improved helmet technology may help with concussions and long term brain injuries, but it will not necessarily address cervical spine injuries. I remember that after Dale Earnhardt was killed at Daytona, NASCAR instituted a new helmet restraint system to reduce the risk of spinal cord injuries. I wonder if anyone is working on equipment improvements to support/protect the neck.
As alluded to by the previous posters, it seems that many of the truly devastating injuries are to the spine not the brain. Improved helmet technology may help with concussions and long term brain injuries, but it will not necessarily address cervical spine injuries. I remember that after Dale Earnhardt was killed at Daytona, NASCAR instituted a new helmet restraint system to reduce the risk of spinal cord injuries. I wonder if anyone is working on equipment improvements to support/protect the neck.
"Didn't people die when they were using leather helmets?"
There were different types of leather helmets. Some were thin as wallets and others as thick as catchers mitts.
As luck would have it, I actually had to use a leather helmet in 9th grade (talking late 70s here - 100 guys went out for a team each year) since my school only had "plastics" for varsity. I had a leather (with facemask) for 9th grade, a suspension plastic for 10th and a water ("concussion") helmet for 11th/12th. I got to run the gamut like few others lol.
The leather was lighter, easier to see out of and less noisy. You didn't think of whacking anyone with it to stun them. The plastics were better for stunning and getting stunned (you always wanted to be the cue ball in a plastic). Anyone who has worn a football helmet knows just what getting hit with a pebble or penny does (that 'crack" sound that goes into your head). You never had that with the leathers.
Of course we were all mostly under 200lbs and barely benching our weight. My concern with a leather now would be keeping facemasks on. I see them breaking off plastics even now.
I don't recall people using their helmets like weapons the way they were being used in late nineties and the early aughts. I could see DBs were trying to stun WRs with their helmets. I think there's mostly been A LOT of bad coaching from HS up. Our JV coaches made us sit if we didn't keep out heads up. They didn't teach leading with facemask either. It was always tackling with the shoulder and with the head up.
There were different types of leather helmets. Some were thin as wallets and others as thick as catchers mitts.
As luck would have it, I actually had to use a leather helmet in 9th grade (talking late 70s here - 100 guys went out for a team each year) since my school only had "plastics" for varsity. I had a leather (with facemask) for 9th grade, a suspension plastic for 10th and a water ("concussion") helmet for 11th/12th. I got to run the gamut like few others lol.
The leather was lighter, easier to see out of and less noisy. You didn't think of whacking anyone with it to stun them. The plastics were better for stunning and getting stunned (you always wanted to be the cue ball in a plastic). Anyone who has worn a football helmet knows just what getting hit with a pebble or penny does (that 'crack" sound that goes into your head). You never had that with the leathers.
Of course we were all mostly under 200lbs and barely benching our weight. My concern with a leather now would be keeping facemasks on. I see them breaking off plastics even now.
I don't recall people using their helmets like weapons the way they were being used in late nineties and the early aughts. I could see DBs were trying to stun WRs with their helmets. I think there's mostly been A LOT of bad coaching from HS up. Our JV coaches made us sit if we didn't keep out heads up. They didn't teach leading with facemask either. It was always tackling with the shoulder and with the head up.
I don't know if thus guy is a real doctor or not but he sure doesn't know squat about concussion or neck injuries. Concussion in the NFL aren't a direct result of the hit itself. Its the sudden deceleration of the head where the brain is tossed around in the skull.
Two rubber helmets would only accelerate the speed in which a head cages direction. It would also increase neck injuries
Two rubber helmets would only accelerate the speed in which a head cages direction. It would also increase neck injuries
The nature of the sport and its rules, etc as evolved over time have caused some of the problems that might be somewhat mitigated if the game were more like rugby. Wrap-up tackling technique and can't leave your feet to launch yourself head first at another player when tackling (and who would want to without a facemask), only can dive if chasing from behind, and positioning your head to the left or right of the other player's hips and the impact being by the shoulders/chest rather than head. If tackler doesn't wrap his arms in rugby while attempting to tackle, the tackler gets called for a penalty/foul. Open/continuous play (similar to always a 2-minute drill, no huddle, and with no timeouts) automatically limits opportunities to celebrate big hits since play can still ensue immediately after tackles.
