{"id":1317,"date":"2024-08-31T11:42:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-31T11:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/31\/the-nfl-embraced-soft-shell-helmet-covers-to-protect-players-from-concussions-heres-what-the-science-says-about-them\/"},"modified":"2024-08-31T11:42:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-31T11:42:06","slug":"the-nfl-embraced-soft-shell-helmet-covers-to-protect-players-from-concussions-heres-what-the-science-says-about-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/31\/the-nfl-embraced-soft-shell-helmet-covers-to-protect-players-from-concussions-heres-what-the-science-says-about-them\/","title":{"rendered":"The NFL embraced soft-shell helmet covers to protect players from concussions. Here\u2019s what the science says about them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crack!<\/em> The sound of football helmets colliding on the field is an audible sign that fall is just around the corner. <\/p>\n

But that sound also comes with a darker side. Mounting scientific evidence shows that repeated hits to the head \u2014 even if they don\u2019t result in concussions \u2014 may cause lasting damage in the brain and perhaps progressive neurodegeneration called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. <\/p>\n

The problem has set off alarms at all levels of the sport, with coaches, trainers, parents and leagues wrestling with tough questions about whether football can be made safer for athletes. <\/p>\n

In just the past month, three young players have died after playing football, two of them with head injuries. The third death is still under investigation. <\/p>\n

After his son\u2019s death, Ryan Craddock, the father of 13-year-old Cohen Craddock, called for all student players to wear additional soft-shell coverings called Guardian Caps. They are not helmets but pliable padded coverings that slip over a player\u2019s existing helmet. <\/p>\n

Intuitively, putting more padding around a football player\u2019s head might sound like a good idea, but there\u2019s little independent research showing that it reduces the force of blows to the head or that it prevents head injuries. <\/p>\n

Lab studies in which researchers simulate hits to the head have shown that the caps can reduce impact forces. But the handful of published studies that have tested the caps on college football players running drills have failed to find any benefit compared with helmets alone. There are no published independent studies that have tried to measure whether Guardian Caps reduce concussions or head injuries in players and no testing to see if they might work for younger players. <\/p>\n

Guardian Caps have gotten a big boost from the NFL, which now allows all players to wear them during regular-season games. The league also mandates them for most players during every preseason practice, as well as regular and postseason practices with contact. <\/p>\n

The caps\u2019 maker, Guardian Sports, says its own extensive testing \u2014 as well as years of use by many large college football teams \u2014 proves that they reduce injuries on the field. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will tell anyone who asks that no product can make a player concussion proof,\u201d Erin Hanson, who started Guardian Sports with her husband in 2011, said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur product, however, is well past the point of proof of concept. We now have over 12 years of on-the-field data and feedback with over 500,000 players using Guardian Caps. Schools like UGA, Ga Tech, Alabama, Tennessee wouldn\u2019t use a product year after year that isn\u2019t working for their players. The NFL and CFL certainly wouldn\u2019t mandate Caps if the data wasn\u2019t clear,\u201d Hansen wrote. <\/p>\n

Dr. David Camarillo, an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University and a former college football player who has tested the Guardian Caps, said he doesn\u2019t think the evidence is so clear. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the rationale is, football\u2019s in big trouble. People are worried about CTE. We\u2019re seeing kids dying,\u201d Camarillo said. \u201cPeople want to try to do something, right, as long as they don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to hurt.\u201d <\/p>\n

On its website, Guardian says its XT model reduces the impact to a player\u2019s head by up to 33%, while the beefier model used by the NFL reduces head acceleration in a collision by up to 40%. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe last two seasons, we saw about a 50% decrease in concussions in the positions that we mandated to wear them. So of course, we said, \u2018OK, all positions will now wear them in the preseason,\u2019\u201d Miller said. <\/p>\n

The NFL has not released the data behind its claims, however, leading to skepticism among some scientists. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to take what the NFL says at face value,\u201d Camarillo said. \u201cWhat they really ought to do is publicly share the data, not just publish it but release it,\u201d and follow up by funding independent studies that could confirm their conclusions. <\/p>\n

The league says it plans to publish research backing its conclusions soon. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually have papers in progress that have been submitted to journals right now. They\u2019re under review, so you should see that in print. You know, takes a while to get things in print, but it\u2019s in the process,\u201d NFL Chief Medical Office Dr. Allen Sills said. <\/p>\n

Sills said one reason the published studies may seem to conflict with the NFL\u2019s results is that the Guardian Cap has changed over time. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome older models of the cap did not show a benefit in our testing, but the newer version of the cap did show this laboratory reduction,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

In a 2022 position statement, the National Athletic Trainers\u2019 Association cautioned about the use of after-market helmet add-ons like Guardian Caps, saying that \u201cThe current evidence describes no benefit.\u201d <\/p>\n

Several groups of independent researchers have recently tested Guardian Caps in laboratory settings and in the real world, and they say the jury is very much out on the question of whether they work. <\/p>\n

Studies in two labs measuring reductions in the force of twisting and side-to-side impacts to the head show a measurable \u2014 if small \u2014 benefit. <\/p>\n

In Virginia Tech\u2019s Helmet Lab, researchers put several models of the caps through repeated collision tests that were designed to mimic the way players can hit their heads on the field. <\/p>\n

Lab director Dr. Steve Rowson, a biomedical engineer, said that testing has found that Guardian Caps reduce the force of an impact, especially if the thicker model deployed by the NFL is used and if both players involved in a hit have them on. <\/p>\n

Rowson said their experiments showed that the standard model of the Guardian Cap reduced the force of acceleration by up to 5% while the model used by the NFL reduced the force of linear acceleration by as much as 14%. <\/p>\n

When the testing simulated the impact of two players who were each wearing a Guardian Cap, the reduction was even greater. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw that it pretty much doubled the effect,\u201d Rowson said. The lab tests suggests it could reduce concussion risk by 15 to 35%, he said. <\/p>\n

The Virginia Tech study hasn\u2019t been published in a peer-reviewed journal, however. The team says it has a paper under review, and it has published a summary of the findings online. <\/p>\n

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