Football Helmet Research Paper

History

The first football helmet invented was made in 1940, which was also around when the

game of football was invented. The first helmet made was not really a helmet. It was a

leather cap worn on your head and it really didn’t do much to protect the head.

Around the 1950s, brain injury’s where beginning to become a concern because there were

more injuries at the same time the game of football was growing in America. That was when

the plastic football helmet was invented. It was really the same as the leather helmet but

plastic. Brain injuries where reduced but not completely eliminated. A year or two later in

1953, the facemask was added to the football helmet to provent facial injuries. At first, only

one bar was added

but eventually more would be added and different designs. Throughout

the years, more and more padding was added to the inside of the helmet.

Today in the NFL, brain injuries are the biggest controversies, that is where football

helmet companies like Riddell and other come in to invent the concussion technology.

How it works

How it works is that there is a large pad in the top of the helmet which would be on

the top of your head and forehead. This pad is meant to absorb the head on head hit and it

absorbs the hit instead of the players head. Riddell is the most commonly used helmet in the

National Football League. “To treat football’s concussion plague, Vicis (VYE-sis) has

reimagined the traditional helmet. Instead of a rigid outer shell, the company’s debut helmet,

called Zero1, has a soft, deformable outer skin with a harder plastic core inside. Like a car’s

Brock Barratt

Period 3

January 23, 2017

2

bumper, the softer carapace gives a little when struck, slowing the impact before it reaches a

tailback’s brain.” Explains Bryan Gruley on the Xenith football helmet, another concussion

technology helmet.

How effective is it?

If you are wondering how effective it is, it is pretty effective. Although concussions are

not one hundred percent preventable, this seems to do the job a lot better than other

helmets. “The latest research finds that football helmets, which have been designed largely

to prevent skull fractures and brain contusions, aren't all that effective against concussion,

which happens when the brain bounces and twists around inside the skull.” -Melissa Healy

As you can see, drop tests prove that football helmets are not doing their job correctly

some of the time.

Some helmets with the concussion technology don’t always do their job.

They may prevent head on head collisions but when a player hits their head on the ground,

the helmet cannot prevent the brain from moving around.

“The study found that football helmets on average reduced the risk of traumatic brain

injury by only 20 percent compared to not wearing a helmet. Of the 10 helmet brands tested,

the Adams a2000 provided the best protection against concussion and the Schutt Air

Advantage the worst. Overall, the Riddell 360 provided the most protection against closed

head injury and the Adams a2000 the least, despite rating the best against concussion.”

Which was presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting

How would I improve it?

Brock Barratt

Period 3

January 23, 2017

3

If I could improve the football helmet, I would have to ad padding n the back of the

helmet. Yes, there is already some there but I don’t think its enough knowing that most

concussions in football are caused by a back of the head hit on the ground after

getting

slammed by a big linemen. The only problem is, is that there have always been problems and

the only thing anyone has ever done was add more padding. I think maybe the real problem

is the field that teams play on. The turf is not soft, if someone made is to it would absorb a

players head, the impact might not be as tragic. Noting I can think of could be done o the

helmet it’s self to prevent the brain from moving but if what the head would hit would

prevent it all together. I believe that for as long as people play football, it will always be

dangerous, it’s what the players sign up for. However there are ways we could help reduce

the biggest injury in football, concussions.