This past season, 50 players wore $1,500 helmets during every game and
practice. A stream of data was beamed wirelessly to computers in a
process similar to mission control monitoring the stress on astronauts
during a launch.
John Bunting suffered three concussions during his 10 years as an NFL linebacker.
"I could barely get up," said Bunting of one of his injuries. "My head was just kind of spiraling, going back down to earth."
Now, as a coach of the North
Carolina Tar Heels, Bunting is heading one of three collegiate teams
participating in a Centers for Disease Control study to better
understand head injuries.
"What is unique about it [the helmet] is that we have placed these
six single access accelerometers that are about the size of a nickel,"
said Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz, director of the Sports Medicine Research
Laboratory in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at The
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mission Control
This past season, 50 players wore $1,500 helmets during every game and
practice. A stream of data was beamed wirelessly to computers in a
process similar to mission control monitoring the stress on astronauts
during a launch.
"They know your body better than you know your own body, so it is up
to them whether you go out there," said Tommy Davis, a Tar Heel
defensive end.
The computers matched up the hits to actual video from the games,
and during a practice the sensors instantly indicated when a player
sustained a dangerous impact.
Based on this system, one player who had taken a hit registering 102 Gs was recently told to rest for two weeks.
The helmets have measured more than 33,000 hits on the North
Carolina team, and more than 250 of those hits had a force greater than
100 Gs. That is equivalent to slamming into a brick wall at 25 miles
per hour.
"We got to continue to teach them to not use their head as a battering ram," Bunting said.
An unexpected benefit of the system is that it can identify a player who repeatedly tackles with his head first.
"So we were able to sit that player down and show him the video,"
Guskiewicz said. "[And we said] ‘Take your head out of the game because
it can result in a catastrophic spine injury.’ "
The world’s leading manufacturer of helmets is now working to mass
produce the high-tech models in hopes to make them affordable to every
player from high school to the pros.
