OT: Will this device for measuring head impacts revolutionize football?
Reebok has developed Checklight, an impact sensor for the head which can be worn under a helmet and records the number of hits at different intensities. It has a flashing indicator that will indicate a level of impact sufficient to warrant removal from competition for assessment.
While football is the sport getting the most attention regarding concussions and other head injuries, hockey is another logical sport for this.
I think we will see this throughout football and for good reason. i would guess within 5-10 yrs
I don't see the need for this, at least not at a pro level. The players just need to recognize and deal with the fact they could suffer severe injuries. If any player doesn't want to play they don't need to. I'm all for making sports safe, but when you are forced to change the game I think it needs to stop.
So there is no need for it because players should just recognize that they could get injured? Huh?
And see that's the problem: It's not about a severe injury. More often, it's about lots of accumulated "little" injuries, and you don't realize at the time that you're doing damage to yourself. Something that would measure that accumulated impact and give you some guidance on when to allow yourself to recover could potentially make the difference between significant brain damage and being able to live a normal life post-NFL.
I understand what you are saying, and i'm not against technology to keep players safer as long as it doesn't compromise the games enjoyment to watch. There is a real chance the NFL won't be around in 50 years. EDIT: or at least the NFL we know.
In terms of tackling and contact, the style of play is radically different from what we have now.
Wait, hold on. So if technology that kept players safe did diminish your enjoyment of the game, you'd be against it? Not trying to be a dick here, I just really want to know. We can say "oh yeah, it's their decision to play in a dangerous game, and as a fan I want my money's worth!", and all of that is certainly true. However, consider this: you and I and anybody who tunes in to watch or listen to the games are a big part of the reason why these players are doing this, which means that at some level we are culpable when they do what we, in essence, have asked them to do, and it results in injury. And because of that, I don't think I can justify opposing any effective way to keep players safer. Do what you need to do, and if I don't like the resulting product, I won't tune in.
i'm not against technology to keep players safe as long as it doesn't compromise the games enjoyment
Yikes, dude.
at pretty much every level of the game, there's pressure to get out there and play especially in the NFL where your paycheck relies on it and you could be cut at any time. You really can't trust players to self-report themselves
Sorry, "5star," but it's a tad selfish to expect our heroes to die early or live severely-downgraded lives after football for our entertainment. As one who has been on the soapbox about concussions and their impact since Christopher Nowinski started the Sports Legacy Institute and began to publicize the effects of CTE, I am happy to see this development.
Eventually, football will find a compromise that makes the game safer for its participants while keeping most of the elements that the mainstream fan likes. The only people who will "suffer" will be the ones who sit on their couches or in their seats while screaming for players to hit each other harder.
It grieves me to watch team mates on the sidelines congratulate a player by whapping him on the helmet.
but I'm drunk on agave yay! Viva hot girls!
as commonly heard, correlation does not mean causation.
the colors on this sensor cannot indicate if you have or have not sustained a concussion. it just measures the frequency of impact, and as the video admits, "it's not diagnostic"
it's like trying to use a simple pedometer to address a running injury.
But if say, MHSAA adopted this as required gear one day and a player was required to go off for evaluation when he got a red light, I'd think that would still be a significant improvement even if the equipment isn't an automatic concussion detector.
is to teach players to quit using their helmets as weapons
How do you deal with trauma to the brain which comes from body to body hits, i.e. non-head contact? Cleveland Clinic, I believe, a few months ago did a study showing that when hard hits to the bodies of football players occur, the brain is still impacted due to the decelerative forces and the whiplash that exacerbates the hit.
As a football fan, I find this topic disturbing as I have been wondering if the nature of the game is such that brain trauma can't be eliminated without changing the game to the point it isn't worth watching. It may be one thing if NFL players know the risks and sign waivers which relieves the NFL of any present or future liability; I can't see the same scenario playing out with universities.
In theory, all contact sports would have the issue to one degree or another. But what I'm saying is the devastating and sometimes literally crippling hits are when someone leaves their feet, uses their body as a projectile, and spears someone helmet to helmet.
In my entirely unprofessional opinion if you take away the helmet, stabalizing collars, and shoulder/chest padding, make high tackles a penalty, someone isn't going to be a human missile at someone's head. They're not going to bust their face open, be out 3 games, and go get carted off for 120 stitches for any 'ooh's and ahh's' or to save a yard here or there.
Will the issue still arise from time to time? Sure. But will we have a decreased number people with severe injury from whiplash, paralysis, brain damage, etc.? Maybe. But at this point, I think it's worth exploring.
Many athletes have come out to say the reason they go all out, all the time, is that the immediate pain factor isn't there with today's equipment. The problem is that internal damage can and does still arise and be prevalent over time.
Just my two cents that probably isn't even worth as much.
Bring on the second string - good teams have them.
It may have been mentioned here before, but Michigan will be using one of the competitors to this technology this year per a TIME article (HERE). The X-Patch from X2 Biosystems is a quarter-sized patch which is attached to the neck and transmits impact data through a secure connection to any authorized tablet or computer on the sideline. It will then match the force of the hit to existing data to make a determination.
Like the mc10 device overview here (LINK), it is a "pathway to assessment" (to use their words). Interestingly, mc10 is run by NFL veteran Isiah Kacyvenski, who said of his own company's device: “The whole point of the CheckLight system is that you don’t want the red or yellow light to be triggered. In our field tests, the majority of coaches reported that their athletes were more cognizant of keeping their head out of the path of impact. This is a real-time teaching tool to give you instantaneous feedback.”
But football is still a very violent game and it's not going to stop the serious head injuries. Especially when you're talking about some RBs who lower their head so much (and yes NFL is trying to change that) but we all know it still is going to be a problem. This may help slow it down though
you wanna clarify that statement? I think you want to assume that every player is on PEDS. Do you really think players like Clowney and Lebron are on the juice? It has less to do with PEDs and more to do with understaning human athletic development. Athletes from HS up train harder longer and better than they did 5 years ago. That and humans are just bigger than they were 25 years ago.
riddell has been using a similar technology for the past few years..
http://www.riddell.com/shop-riddell/helmet/riddell-revolution-iq-hits-h…
you just don't have the type of repetitive hits, say 70 plays a game, that the head is involved in. still need to protect the head, get rid of the high hits (especially the shoulder-to-opponents-head hits), but a device for incremental shots to the head is not necessary for hockey.