Can improved helmet technology stem growing concussion rates among athletes?

Can high-tech smart helmets protect athletes from experiencing brain trauma?

High-impact sports like football are looking to reduce brain trauma by using innovative technologies that can be embedded right into a player’s helmet.

And its not just football that could benefit. Sports like hockey, lacrosse and snowboarding are all experiencing an increase in concussions. The CDC estimates that around 2 million Americans suffer sports-related concussions every year, so this issue has gotten a lot of attention from not only athletes, but coaches, trainers and parents too.

One Swedish company has designed a self-monitoring ski racing helmet that can notify the user if the helmet needs to be retired when its integrity has been compromised.

POC’s Hemet Integrity system uses embedded stress-strain sensors within the lining of the helmet that can record, collect and monitor any deformation from impacts. It also collects data on the severity of hits over the lifetime of the helmet.

The athlete can test the integrity by pressing an on-board light system on the back of the helmet that turns red when it has becomes too damaged or when the helmet needs to be replaced.

Most of the recent head trauma research, however, has concentrated on finding solutions for football players. After all, it is estimated that professional football players experience an average of 1,500 impacts to the head every season. If we consider that a pro career may last a decade and we include their amateur years, the risk of brain trauma really begins to add up.

So it’s not surprising that the business of developing protective helmet technologies has skyrocketed in recent years as the concussion issue continues to gain more attention.

Even neuroscientists are getting into the game. One team of researchers based at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond are looking into the idea of somehow lessening the force of the blows themselves by using the repelling property of magnets embedded inside helmets. They are testing using rare-Earth magnets – the most powerful commercially available – that weigh a small fraction of the helmet itself. The repelling force of these magnets may reduce impact forces by about 25% on average and reduce the risk of concussions by as much as 80%.

If these magnets ever do make it through rigorous testing, it is estimated that they would increase the price of professional helmets by $50 to $100. And what about the safety of being exposed to such strong magnetic fields? Scientists say that an hour-long MRI procedure produces up to 30 times stronger magnetic fields than what these helmets would produce.

While some helmet manufacturing companies have been working on diffusing the energy associated with oncoming hits on the gridiron, others have come up with technologies that can also send an alert to those on the sidelines if there is an indication of a concussion and the athlete needs to be taken off the playing field.

Some high school and college teams in the United States are already using a concussion alert system put out by Riddell. While a player who just got hit in the head may get back up and not show any signs of injury, an alert sent wirelessly to a mobile device the coaches have on hand tells them exactly how hard the player got hit.

In the end, these technologies may help prevent some brain injuries, but let’s not kid ourselves - they won’t be able to stop them all. Many high-impact sports, after all, remain inherently violent.

But at least we are heading in the right direction.