Football helmets and mouth guards cannot completely stop concussions

This article discusses how helmets and mouth guards can not guard against concussions. The only safe way to make sure a child does not get a concussion is if they do not play.

Before the football game between Navy and Army in 1893, Navy player Joseph Mason Reeves was advised by a doctor not to participate.

Another kick to the head could be fatal, the physician warned.

But Reeves was determined not to watch the game from the bench, so he hired a local shoemaker to fashion a leather hat for him to wear during the contest. And thus, according to legend at least, the first football helmet was invented.

More than a century later, helmets are not used only in football, but in other collision sports such as lacrosse and hockey. And even though the rudimentary headgear of the late 1800s has developed into the hard-shelled plastic helmets used today, modern head protection’s ability to prevent concussions is still questionable.

First, let’s get one thing straight: helmets (not only those of the football variety, but also hockey and lacrosse ones among others) do a great job of preventing most head injuries. Helmets were designed to keep the number of skull fractures at bay, and, in that regard, they have performed well. But helmets cannot keep the brain from shaking, rotating or twisting underneath the skull, and that is the cause of concussions.

Studies have shown, however, that the facemasks of hockey helmets can reduce the severity of concussions, and studies at Virginia Tech University show that some football helmets are better at preventing concussion-like symptoms than others.

Overall, though, football helmets cannot keep concussions from happening, particularly at the speed with which the game is played. According to the 2010 National Football League Concussion Report, of a total 167 concussions sustained in the 2010 regular season, just more than half (84) happened to the fastest players on the field: receivers, running backs and defensive backs.

Another piece of equipment aimed at reducing head injuries is the rubber mouth guard. The main way mouth guards are meant to protect from concussions is absorbing contact to the jaw and preventing the force of the contact from reaching the brain.

However, there still is no evidence suggesting that mouth guards perform this duty well.

Lastly, headgear for the non-collision sport of soccer is a controversial piece of equipment. Studies are still being done on the padded headbands, which the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) first allowed in 2003. No concrete results have been settled on, and for now the effectiveness of soccer headgear is still unknown.

Head injuries, including concussions, have been prevalent in contact sports since the advent of those sports.

And although helmets, mouth guards and headbands are meant to reduce such injuries (and often do), concussions present an entirely different monster. Because concussions are unique injuries caused by violent motion of the brain, more research and development will be needed before any device can cut the number of concussions down to zero.

As it stands right now, there exists only one piece of equipment that can prevent concussions with 100 percent effectiveness: the bench.

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