CTE. Avid sports fans and parents of athletes in high-impact sports certainly have heard this acronym and the devastating effects it can have on an individual. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated or severe hits to the head. Its terrifying and devastating effects have puzzled the medical community and generated public demand for advanced equipment technology for athletes who participate in contact sports. New helmets have entered the market promising to provide more protection for the cranium but very few have lived up to expectations.
Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center is blazing a new trail in concussion studies in a unique way. Lead by Dr. Gregory Myer, researchers at Cincinnati Children’s reached out to Mike Gordon, head athletic trainer at Cincinnati St. Xavier High School, who has years of experience in concussion spotting with the NFL and Cincinnati Bengals. The study involved equipping athletes with a device called the “Q-Collar” co-invented by Dr. David Smith, a visiting scientist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center.
The Q-Collar differs from previous concussion technologies in that it is worn on the neck, unlike a helmet, and slows outflow of blood from the brain to the body by sustaining pressure on an artery. Essentially the device prevents the brain from “sloshing around inside the skull” during traumatic collisions. According to Myer, Dr. Smith was inspired by studying the anatomical ability of woodpeckers to withstand repeated concussive impact. He discovered that by increasing blood volume, the brain has limited space to move inside the skull.
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The collar was first worn by St. Xavier hockey players during the 2014-2015 season with promising results. Collar-equipped players underwent MRI testing during the middle and end of their season. Results yielded very promising findings and plans were started to equip a larger number of football players with the collar.
St. Xavier football players (32 total) including starters, scout and JV players, were first introduced to the collar in late July 2015 and underwent preseason MRI testing for additional comparable data. But this time the players wearing the collars were equipped with an accelerometer in their helmets. This allowed Gordon and his training staff to measure and track the G-force each player experienced through a hit by way of a laptop on the sidelines. “The accelerometer helped a great deal in the fact that we would see a big hit and be alerted to how big the hit was and whether we should check on the athletes or not,” said Gordon. “Players wearing the collar seemed to respond to bigger hits better than the players who weren’t.” At the conclusion of each session the data is downloaded to a cloud then charged and reset for its next use.
Crosstown competitors Moeller High School also contributed by equipping thirty of its football players with an accelerometer to contribute to the study. Acting as the control group, their players did not wear Q-Collars and the data collected throughout their season will be crucial to determine how promising this technology will be. When asked about his thoughts on the collar’s promise to protect the well-being of the athletes in contact sports, Gordon answered: “When I was first introduced to the collar I was skeptical because no helmet out there can prevent concussions. When the results are published I hope to be a believer. But being on the front lines in all of this, I do believe its promising.”
Although the results of the study are still set to be published in the coming weeks, plans are already in motion to bring this to more schools and other sports. The Q-Collar was recently licensed by a subsidiary of Performance Sports Group to commercialize it throughout the sports world.
According to Gordon, the goal is to test the promising technology on women’s soccer players and continue to expand nationally. The prayers of athletes who wish to continue playing the sports they love and those of their loved ones may soon be answered as technology like the Q-Collar continues to advance.