The ongoing money being spent on advancing helmet design for American football is a ruse. Yes, helmets are important to protect skull fractures. But that is not why so much money is being put into helmet design. I have been a football fan for over 60 years and I cannot remember ever hearing about someone suffering a skull fracture while playing football.
There is only one issue scaring the NFL and others making money from football. CTE. And helmets have absolutely zero to do with CTE. CTE is caused by a free floating brain moving at speed hitting the inside of the skull when the body comes to a sudden stop or change of direction. Repetitively. For years. No head contact is involved. Diagnosed concussions have zero relationship to CTE.
The NFL cannot survive with that truth being widely accepted. The NFL's survival is dependent upon spinning a narrative that there are steps that can be - and are being - taken that will make American football safe. Notice they never say "safe from CTE" - because that would be a legally fraudulent falsehood.
Posting helmet design stories just perpetuates the NFL's false narrative.
Rugby is having the same discussion as well. Despite the lack of helmets, there are comparatively few skull fractures but the incidence of CTE is way too high. The insidious problem is not so much the big hits, but the accumulated result of "microconcussions", lots of small hits, something that rugby is more prone to than US football AIUI.
Not sure how many injuries this would realistically prevent, but reducing rotational acceleration by a factor of 3.5 with a tiny sticker is a pretty awesome result.
The ongoing money being spent on advancing helmet design for American football is a ruse. Yes, helmets are important to protect skull fractures. But that is not why so much money is being put into helmet design. I have been a football fan for over 60 years and I cannot remember ever hearing about someone suffering a skull fracture while playing football.
There is only one issue scaring the NFL and others making money from football. CTE. And helmets have absolutely zero to do with CTE. CTE is caused by a free floating brain moving at speed hitting the inside of the skull when the body comes to a sudden stop or change of direction. Repetitively. For years. No head contact is involved. Diagnosed concussions have zero relationship to CTE.
The NFL cannot survive with that truth being widely accepted. The NFL's survival is dependent upon spinning a narrative that there are steps that can be - and are being - taken that will make American football safe. Notice they never say "safe from CTE" - because that would be a legally fraudulent falsehood.
Posting helmet design stories just perpetuates the NFL's false narrative.
Rugby is having the same discussion as well. Despite the lack of helmets, there are comparatively few skull fractures but the incidence of CTE is way too high. The insidious problem is not so much the big hits, but the accumulated result of "microconcussions", lots of small hits, something that rugby is more prone to than US football AIUI.
Alix Popham's story is particularly poignant:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2kgjdxxz7qo
I wish they explained why mips can’t be used. All there is is a throwaway statement about it.
MIPS is a one and done kind of thing for major impacts.
Not sure how many injuries this would realistically prevent, but reducing rotational acceleration by a factor of 3.5 with a tiny sticker is a pretty awesome result.
Naïve question: could you grease the helmets?
"But there's no helmets in football... Oh, that football"