By: Vanessa Countryman
Football helmets may prevent head injuries such as skull fractures, but what do they really prevent for the very well known concussion sport?
Football is well known for its collisions and consequences, including concussions. A concussion is a functional injury caused by a g-force, which is a gravitational force that is pushed against someone. It is not a structural injury that can be seen on imaging, like an MRI.
There are also things called sub-concussive forces, where it can be a hard hit but not enough to cause a concussion.
Helmets can prevent structural injuries, like skull fractures. “The theory is that the helmet can absorb some of the forces that blow then hopefully we won’t see these concussions,” said Dr. Tamerah Hunt, Associate Professor of Athletic Training at Georgia Southern University. “But the reality of it is, there is no hard science that says putting on a helmet is going to prevent you from getting a concussion.”
So, what can be done? The Head Impact Telemetry System, or HIT, employs sensors in helmets to measure head movements in terms of straight-line and rotational forces. It's applied mainly in youth and college football to monitor how often and how intensely players' helmets are hit.
“[The HIT System] will tell you how hard the hit was, what angle it came from, the direction of the force, and things like that,” said Dr. Hunt.
The accuracy of the Head Impact Telemetry (HIT) System used in football helmets and it involved tests with both large and medium helmets on a dummy, using a machine to simulate impacts. The study found that the pressure with a large helmet on the dummy was similar to what players experienced. In contrast, a medium helmet on the dummy showed pressures higher than what nearly all the players felt.
In 2008, medical professionals were told to stop grading concussions. “Regardless of whether it’s a significant or severe concussion, we should be treating it the same way,” said Dr. Hunt. “Honestly, you can’t really tell how severe the concussion is until that patient has recovered.”
Some debates about these concussions go deeper than scales, including Second Impact Syndrome. This means that somebody sustains a concussion, and then they sustain a second hit in a relatively short period of time. So ultimately, they are still recovering from the previous concussion, and then metabolically, their brain shuts down and they die.
Regarding Second Impact Syndrome, “I think deep down in my heart of hearts, I really hope it exists only because if death is the result of someone taking a hard hit and then having dysregulation of the brain and dying, that is scarier than just saying, ‘Oh, okay somebody got hit.’”
During long term recovery after repetitive concussions, there can be difficulty concentrating, emotional and psychological symptoms, poor memory, attention issues, or even untraditionally develop depression and anxieties.