Safety Equipment

A Michigan based company has developed which it claims reduces the g-force impact of one helmet to another called the S.A.F.E.Clip which replaces the plastic facemask clip which comes standard with a football helmet.

The Arena Football League (AFL), in partnership with Brain Sentry, has become the first professional sports league to require helmet-mounted impact sensors to alert sideline personnel to hits that may cause concussion.

The National Athletic Trainers' Association has released a new position statement on the management of sport concussion. The statement is an update to the NATA's original 2004 concussion guidelines and addresses education, prevention, documentation and legal aspects, evaluation and return-to-play considerations. In particular, the authors amended the return-to-play guidelines and now recommend no return on the day the athlete is concussed.

A 2014 study (Rowson S, Duma SM, et al 2014) reporting that football helmet design can reduce concussion risk raises more questions than it answers, says Mike Oliver, Executive Director of the National Operating Committee Standards and Equipment (NOCSAE), the non-profit group that sets standards for football helmets.

A new study provides the first good clinical evidence that helmet design can lower the risk of concussion in games and practices but leaves unanswered the practical question faced by football parents, coaches, and administrators: whether a difference in concussion risk reduction exists between currently available helmet models incorporating the latest design features.

The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) board of directors has approved the development of a revised football helmet standard that will require helmets to limit certain concussion-causing forces. The revised standard was approved in June 2014, and will be implemented, after a period of public comment, in June 2016.

At its semi-annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) board of directors accepted results from several important NOCSAE-funded research projects which expand the scientific knowledge regarding sports-related brain injuries as part of an ongoing effort to increase the safety of athletes through the development of new helmet standards.

The July 2013 decision by NOCSAE that modification of helmets with third-party after-market add-ons, absent retesting and recertification as configured, renders the certification void may be necessary to protect the integrity of its helmet standard, but at the cost of depriving athletes of cutting-edge concussion safety products.