In the wake of the NFL’s recent settlement of roughly $765 million with over 4,500 former players in a lawsuit regarding head injury claims, League Commissioner Roger Goodell has a launched a new initiative to bolster research and make the game safer. In early September, just days before Week 1’s season openers, the NFL announced a $10 million incentive program aimed at finding new shock absorbing materials and other technological advances to better protect players from concussions.
Protecting Players
The NFL launched its first ever Head Health Challenge this year in partnership with major sponsors General Electric and Under Armour. Officials announced that the effort will include $40 million for research and development of technologies to improve concussion diagnosis and treatment. The effort is aimed at benefiting athletes across all sports, as well as military personnel and others who sustain concussions.
The program had earlier announced a $10 million incentive program aimed at improving brain imaging technologies that could help in identify concussions and the best treatments. During a press conference, Commissioner Goodell explained:
“We’re talking about using new products in ways they haven’t been used before to provide better protection.”
The move marks the NFL’s latest phase of its Head Health Challenge, which will rely on a panel of judges to award monetary prizes for innovations. Additionally, accelerometers, which are sensors used to measure the forces of head impacts by many college and high school football teams, are being evaluated for use in the NFL. A few different models are currently pending review and could be implemented into running back’s helmets on a trial basis later this season.
Accelerometers and New Designs
Various types of sensors can fit into mouth guards and helmet linings. Others can be worn on patches behind the neck and transmit real-time data on head impacts to laptops or tablet devices on the sidelines.
“We’re getting close, and I think that we have some teams identified,” said Kevin Guskiewicz, University of North Carolina researcher and a member of the NFL’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee.
“We’re right now working with some teams to try to secure the ability to go in during their bye week and to get them outfitted. It’s sort of just to look at this from a feasibility standpoint for half a season to see how this works, the value of having them in and which ones are liked the best in terms of wearing them without knowing it.”
Guskiewicz also said the sensors also could lead to changes in player-specific helmet designs by providing data by on the severity and location of head impacts based on the play-by-play execution in a particular position.
The data could suggest different types of materials or different helmet styles for offensive linemen versus running backs or quarterbacks. Data may isolate the areas of the field and physical body positions in which most players take the majority of impacts.
The NFL is accepting entries. Based on the final decisions by the judges, some entries could be awarded up to $1 million each. Head Health Challenge II is open to any organization or any individual with ideas about how to make better helmets for players.
Reference:
Road Runner
Head Health Challenge
