Concussions: Personal Narrative Analysis

Part II

Summary of Contribution

My earliest contribution was gathering a portion of the background information about accelerometers and Gravitational forces. Furthermore I found the first commercially available accelerometer of the group. Unfortunately we were unable to obtain all of the in depth information that we were searching for about it.

Summary of Interview

I interviewed Travis Lilly, Senior football player about his experience with a concussion. Travis had a concussion his freshman year of high school. The concussion was mild to moderate in severity but was not diagnosed until the next day. This means that he was not immediately removed from the game. After his concussion was diagnosed his recovery began. To ensure he would recover

Because physics are the root cause of concussions, it follows that understanding the effects of the forces of an impact on the brain will lead to allowing us to more easily diagnose concussions. Unfortunately the issue with opening someone's head on the field to examine the effects of an impact is rather lethal. That said, scientists and engineers are working on solutions. Stanford University is one such example of a project using accelerometers to learn more about the impacts that cause concussions. With these accelerometers Stanford has discovered some very hard hits. One was measured at 150 Gs. The speed of rotation was 2000 degrees per second. Using our knowledge of physics, this data makes it clear that the brain is unlikely to escape an impact of this magnitude unscathed ("Stanford Investigates the Hits That Cause Concussions."). Another team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania worked on using their understanding of physics to devise another method of concussion diagnosis. Their idea revolved around using a color changing coating for a helmet. The coating would change color based on the strength of any impacts it received ("Engineers Design Color-changing Material That Could Help Diagnose