Building Safer Football Helmets

[syndicaster id=’6072904′]

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)- Concussions happen at a frequent rate in football, and some parents may be fearful of their child playing the sport.

But, For those parents, there may now be a sigh of relief.

Researchers at Mississippi State University are developing a safer helmet to help reduce concussions.

It’s very common to see a football player getting his “bell rung” in a head on collision during a game

And some of those big hits, can lead to a concussion.

“A concussion can occur one point six to three point eight million times in the United States every year,” current MSU student Alston Rush said.

“Imagine a child from 10 years old to 20 years playing 10 years worth, that’s 15 thousand hits in the head,” MSU professor Dr. Mark Horstemeyer said.

With the concussions happening at that high of a rate, MSU researchers are creating a new football helmet designed to take concussion prevention to a whole new level.

“We’re working on how to mediating the shock, we’re working on trapping the momentum and absorbing the energy. so we’re changing the facemask, we’re changing the shell, we’re changing the foam liner,” Horstemeyer said.

The new helmet will have a kevlar based frame, ram horn inspired foam lining and a magnesium face mask.

“What really sets our research apart is that we’re using the brain response rather than the helmet response to see how different designs affect the pressure on the brain, the stress in the brain,m and that will in return, affect injury,” current MSU student Kyle Johnson said.

And one of their biggest tests, is the drop tower.

“You drop it at certain heights that impact the head at certain locations, from there, you’re measuring acceleration and we calculate various head injury metrics and determine the relatively safety of the helmet,” Rush said.

The MSU Football team will begin wearing these helmets in their practices this spring.