Enhancing Football Helmet Technology for Improved Safety
By: Connor Adams and Charlie Shepherd
Abstract
American professional football, as well as collegiate and below, has recently made major changes
concerning helmets and the type of contact allowed with them. Penalties are now issued for helmet to
helmet contact due to the many concussions and jarring injuries that have doubled since 2002.
Researching this problem, one will find multiple reports stating the primitive design of these helmets,
and their lack of protection. Investigating this problem required two helmets, as well as different
solutions to the padding inside. The materials that were chosen were a thick, spongy foam; a thin,
flexible styrofoam, and a powdery sand. These materials were placed inside the helmet, taking up the
same amount of space as the regular helmet pads. The helmet was placed on the manikin’s head, which
the force meter was in, pushed against the front or side of the inside of the head, depending on the test.
A second helmet was suspended from the ceiling and released from there, swinging at a consistent
velocity into the helmet with the varied padding material to test the force felt from inside the head,
simulating the front and sides of the skull. Then, 5 pounds of weight was placed inside the helmet and
repeated the test for the front facing test with all four materials. The thick foam proved to be the best
option for protection against impacts to both the front and side. When the material was in the helmet, the
force meter recorded the lowest values compared to the other materials tested.
Question
Will thin styrofoam, thick foam, sandbags, or standard football pads absorb the most force from front
and side impacts to reduce concussions?
Hypothesis
Thin pads of denser styrofoam will absorb the most force and protect the head the best from front and
side impacts.
Background Information
Striking reports about football announce: “High school football accounts for 47 percent of all reported
sports concussions, with 33 percent of concussions occurring during practice.” and “3,800,000
concussions reported in 2012, double what was reported in 2002.” A recent study has shown that a
football player can on average take up to 1000 hits to the head in a given season. Many football
programs of all levels have limited the number of practices with pads and have started to teach players
how to avoid tackling with their head leading. In 2010, the NFL passed rules penalizing helmet to
helmet contact because it was causing too many injuries. This penalty has helped decrease some amount
of helmet-to-helmet contact, however, if the helmets were improved to absorb more of the force and not
jolting around the brain as much, this could decrease the number of jarring injuries as well as
concussions. There have been attempts to restructure the football helmet, however none of the newer
designs have proven any decrease in percentage of concussions or any absorption of force.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Wedro, Benjamin, MD. "Head Injury (Traumatic Brain Injury): Symptoms and Causes." MedicineNet. Ed. Melissa
Conrad Stoppler. Medicinenet, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.
"Concussions in American Football." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
Gregory, Sean, and Sean Gregory. "Why Leather Football Helmets Could Provide a Better Defense Against
Concussion | TIME.com." Time. Time, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
"How Well Do Football Helmets Protect Players from Concussions?" How Well Do Football Helmets Protect
Players from Concussions? N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Cdc. Heads Up: Concussion in Football (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
"Young Players, Serious Injuries." The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Sept. 2007. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
"Concussions: Rugby Can Help Football." ThePostGame. N.p., 15 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
"Head Trauma in Football: A Special Report | The MMQB with Peter King."The MMQB with Peter King Head
Trauma in Football A Special Report Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
9. "Head Case - Complete Concussion Managements." Stats on Concussions & Sports -. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2015.
10. Bradley, Erik. "'Genius' Concussion Researcher Tries to Make Football Safer."USA Today. USA Today, 22 Nov.
2011. Web.
Materials
The four materials tested for the most impact absorption include the following:
-Standard football pads which acted as the baseline for the experiment
-Thick, spongy foam; the type used in mattresses
-Thin styrofoam used as more insulation or a hard pad
-Soft silt-like sand used in play toys
The thin layers of styrofoam as well as two thick foam pads were both cut into three different pieces,
with a circular shape with 4 slits as well as two different pieces for supporting the front, sides, and back
of the head. The sand was placed in bags in equal amounts and duct taped down to the helmet. Five bags
were equally spaced apart from the front of the helmet over the top to the back of the helmet and one
was placed on each side of the helmet. Two empty football helmets were used, as well as rope and
weights.
Procedure
The helmet with the varying materials was placed on the manikin head. A force meter was
placed inside the manikin head so that the measurement knob was lightly touching the front or side of
the inside of the manikin’s head. This was placed on a chair with the point of contact being three feet
from the ceiling. Above the manikin is a hook, with a string attached, on the end of the string is the other
football helmet that will be used to hit the tested football helmet to measure the forces. This football
helmet is brought up to the ceiling and released from the same spot every time so that the point of
contact and initial force is exerted consistently throughout the experiment with the different padding
materials. The force meter was hooked up to the computer where the force felt through the helmet,
padding, and manikin was felt. Three different force testings took place: force from the front, force from
the side, and force from the side with the force meter measuring the force felt at the front of the helmet.
The initial lowest impact was the force recorded. After, the impact from the weighted helmet (the helmet
with two 2.5 pound weights for the approximate weight of a human head) was recorded only for the
front in a similar fashion to the other tests.
Results
Front Hit with Front Sensor
Side Hit with Front Sensor
Side Hit with Side Sensor
Newtons per Impact
Newtons per Impact
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
3.90
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
6.54
Thick Foam Thin Foam
4.73
Sandbags
1.07
Standard
2.59
3.06
Thick Foam Thin Foam
3.87
0.57
0.41
0.85
Standard Thick Foam Thin Foam
Newtons per Impact
Newtons per Impact
Standard
1.87
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Sandbags
10.58
Standard
9.18
7.60
Thick Foam Thin Foam
0.49
Sandbags
7.71
sand
Conclusion
The material which rendered the lowest force reading would be the most effective helmet. Two thick
foam pads prove the best support for absorbing lighter hits while the three firmer thin pads protect better
against harder hits.
The front collision with the sensor measuring impacts from the front of the helmet, the thick
foam measured an average 1.87N, the least newtons measured inside the head. The other materials tested
were the regular pads, which measured 3.9N; sandbags, which measured 4.73N; and thin foam, which
measured 6.54N. This means when a player is hit in the head normally, the thick pads will reduce the
force felt inside the head. As the force increases though, the thick pads effectiveness in reducing helmetto-helmet impacts declines. The sand and thin pads both reduced a hard impact to around 7.6N, much
less than the thick pads reduction to 9.2N and the standard pads reduction to 10.6N. A firmer but still
light material, such as the thin styrofoam would be preferable where higher impacts are more likely.
The collision with the swinging helmet hitting the padded helmet sideways produced similar
results, with the thick pads reducing the force the most to only 0.41N. All the pads were successful in
reducing this force, as all the other materials (regular pads, thin foam, and sandbags) were within or
close to the margin of error of the thick pads.
The side impact with the force meter measuring sideways showed a different result than the first
two tests. The standard football pads reduced the force to 1.07N, while the thick pads lessened it to
2.59N, the thin foam to 3.06N, and the sandbags to 3.87N. This may have been caused by the side pads
of the regular helmet being made of a slightly softer material, which compared to the front pad,
performed successfully.
In conclusion, players who experience less force when playing, like a linebacker who does not
move far from the line of scrimmage, will do better in the thick foam pads. The impacts they constantly
experience will be reduced, but if a hard helmet-to-helmet happens, they will be more at risk of injury.
Players who move out in the open where full speed tackles happen, like special teams and wide
receivers, should wear the helmet with the three thin pads, as this set up does better with higher forces.
Though different pads do better in different situations, this experiment shows the ineffectiveness of the
standard pads used now.
Future Directions
The application of a redesigned football helmet is extremely applicable for all levels of football,
lacrosse, and other contact sports that require a helmet. A helmet with improved padding, like the
padding tested, greatly improves the impacts felt from hard hits, as well as weighing much less. New
padding could easily be brought into the system of helmets in use by refurbishing them, like the process
now that happens with old helmets. In addition, new pads of either type of foam cost less than the $30 to
$40 to refurbish the helmet with standard pads.
To improve upon the existing research, more tests would be run. Greater impacts would simulate
the debilitating hits that happen on the field. Sensors could be placed with players on the field, recording
the impacts with the damage caused to the player. Also, different materials could be used, like springs,
fluids or Kevlar. The ability to keep players safer exists, people just have to realize the problem and
invest in this issue.