489.
That’s the number of National Football League players diagnosed with concussions in preseason and regular-season games in 2012 and 2013. These sobering numbers have accounted for too many life-threatening, and sometimes life-ending issues.
The NFL now has a Head, Neck and Spine Committee, which came up with a Sideline Concussion Assessment Tool that must be done before a player who took a hit that has left them woozy or has had their bell rung can be allowed back on the field. The assessment is first performed to get a baseline reading on players before they step on the field at the start of the season, again after a head injury. This is a logical place to start, so team medical staff members can tell where (if any) differences exist after the athlete has taken a blow to their head.
What are they looking for? Why are they doing this?
Some current and former players who have had a history of taking shots to the head have either killed themselves or killed themselves and a loved one, had personality changes, shown signs of aggression, and/or amnesia.
Only after their death, when an autopsy is performed, is it learned that they were suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
While there is currently no way to completely diagnose CTE while the athlete is alive, the NFL could do more to help prevent concussions as well as help players understand the ramifications of repeatedly sustaining head injuries. While it is understandable that athletes want to play and help their team, they may not want to admit the severity of their injuries; and either don’t report or under-report how the injury affected them. Removing the decision to return to playing must be standardized and taken out of the hands of the player. The medical team administering the assessments of a concussion must not rely on subjective data given by the athlete and interpreted by the medical staff.
What can the NFL do?
At the high school and college level, there has been a movement to protect athletes from concussions.
Here are a few technologies already being employed that the NFL could use.
Since the head takes so many hits, the helmet is a good way to start to introduce more technology as a way of reducing the chance of a concussion from occurring.
Riddell has a long history of supplying equipment for colleges. Most recently, their SpeedFlex helmet received a 5 Star rating from The Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings. Starting at under $400, the helmet is made from polycarbonate (thermoplastic polymers) material and is designed to take impacts. Their Patented Side Impact Protection (PSIP) system protects the jawbone, while its Tru-Curve Liner System fits snuggly into the helmet shell. The flexibility built in to the helmet helps reduce the impact force transfer by reducing the initial force of the impact and redistributing the force before it reaches the athlete’s head.
Another technology the NFL could take advantage of is Brain Sentry. In three easy steps (clean off the outside of your helmet, attach the sensor, and the remove plastic tabs) the sensor is active.
The Bethesda, Maryland-based company wants to ensure that whomever is in charge of a sporting event, identify players who should be checked out for a possible concussion. When an athlete takes a hit to the head when wearing a helmet, a red light comes on the handheld device letting the coach, parent, medical staff, etc., know that a hard impact has been taken. Because technology changes over time, the device you own is sure to go out of date. To keep up with the latest version, a low annual fee will guarantee you get the latest version of their technology.
Between former Pittsburgh Steelers team physician, who helped to identify the first clinical evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Dr. Julian Bailes and Co-Founder, Greg Merril, who has a long history of developing sensor-based medical electronic products, they’re bound to come up with more useful, easy to use devices.
A third technology worthy of a serious consideration by the NFL is the B-TrackS system. What makes this technology stand out is that it looks at how a head injury affects a person’s balance.
Daniel Goble, the brains behind B-TrackS, is a faculty member at San Diego State University, Exercise and Nutritional Sciences Department; and has spent many years researching the biological and behavioral bases of human movement, especially pertaining to proprioception, which is “the unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself.” Further, it relates to the awareness of posture, movement, and changes in equilibrium. When an athlete has suffered an impact that leaves them feeling wobbly on their feet, its not obvious exactly how much the force of the impact affected their brain. B-TrackS’s goal is to check, over a period of time, what head injuries do to a person and give unbiased data regarding whether they should or shouldn’t be allowed to continue playing.
Next is Impakt’s Shockbox Sports Helmet Sensors. Their sensor collects real-time data regarding hits to the head, creating graphics that are easy to read and impossible to misdiagnose the severity and amount of head injuries an athlete takes over time and during a specific game and over time.
Based on the technology behind a combat helmet sensor, Co-founder Danny Crossman, whose background is in defense technology and business, collaborated with Scott Clark, a hockey coach, to find a reliable, durable and not too expensive device that would give consistent, real-time information on a smartphone using their free app.
Lastly, there’s Reebox’s CHECKLIGHT— a revolutionary head impact indicator. In partnership with the award-winning company, MC10, they created a skullcap, which fits under the helmet gathering accurate, actionable and non-biased data on any impacts the player takes. This device is the winner of the Fast Company Innovation by Design Award in the Health category. Because it’s easy to use (just put it on your head) athletes and coaches won’t have to do any extra work to use it. Data gathered is uploaded to a smart device, where it can be accessed to get detailed information regarding the athlete’s condition.
Data from these technological devices as well as using a helmet that is engineered to withstand the g-force that a concussion can generate can go a long way toward ensuring the health of NFL players. The leaders and coaches would do well to take a more proactive as well as empirically driven approach to gather unbiased data, which shows definitively whether or not an athlete has suffered a concussion.
All of these technologies would fit in perfectly with the Head Health Challenge, which is an initiative created by the NFL, General Electric, and Under Armour to drive innovation and research, create; and, equally importantly, market products that could help diagnose concussions more quickly and accurately, and prevent head injuries. Here are some of the winners from Head Health Challenge II, giving an idea of what could be in store for athletes.