As a spectator, its easy to forget the long term consequences of 300 pound humans crashing intoeach other at over 20 miles per hour. But this is the reality of American football. During play, the brain is one of the most susceptible parts of the body and thelong-termdanger may remain hidden until years after retirement.
New safety rules and improved helmets prevent injuries such as skull fractures. But no amount of training or equipment is yet known to prevent concussions, internal brain injuries caused when the brain shakes back and forth, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the neurodegenerative disease that results from accumulated hits to the head. The best thing we can do is stop playing these types of sports. The second best option is to mitigate the risks.
The NFL is plagued with controversy over the league's relationship with head injuries. Traditional helmets are designed to prevent skull fractures. However, concussions are not just blunt force trauma, but results of rotational forces exerted when the head snaps back and forth.
Symptoms of CTE don't appear until years or decades after chronic impacts
Wikimedia Commons
If the NFL wants to get serious about concussion prevention, as many believe they morally have a responsibility to do, independent neuroscience has to have a leading role in how helmets are designed.While the NFL denies bias in how they use science, it is impossible to deny that they have a large financial interest in the results, and this has led to questionable measures on head protection. From 1994 to 2009, the NFL actually employed their own research committee. But the committee was overhauled in 2009 after criticismfrom Congress for their continued denial of the link between football and brain disease.
And then there are equipment companies like Riddell, which was sued by thousands of former NFL players in 2013 for falsely claiming that players using their Revolution helmet were 31 percent less likely to get a concussion. Riddell based their marketing on a study of their new helmet by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Even when the authors of the paper informed Riddell that their interpretation of their results was wrong (the actual reduction was closer to 2 percent), Riddell failed to alter the original claim.
Sciences approach for the modern American football helmet
If youve ever been a passenger in a car that suddenly slams on its breaks, you know a little of what it's like to be tackled. You probably fall forward, kept in your seat by your seat belt. The car stopped, but you were still rapidly accelerating. You experienced a linear force.Measurements on a college player showed the average acceleration of 10 hits he took during a single game. Each hit was roughly equivalent to what you would feel if you crashed a car into a wall going about 30 miles per hour.
Players' brains are very vulnerable in such a high-impact sport
Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash
Understanding of concussions and CTE has evolved significantly over the past few years and helmet designs are now just starting to catch up with the research. For example, scientists once thought that a concussion only bruised the outer grey matter surface of the brain.New research published over the past five years demonstrates that the brain doesnt bruise, but does experience rotational forces and damage extending to white matter, deep tissue in the brain, as the fibers in white matter pull and twist upon impact.
Designing a better helmet is about being creative about reducing the rapid deceleration of the brain upon impact. In 2013, the start up company VICIS set out to create a helmet based on this current medical knowledge, with neurosurgeons, concussion specialists, and former NFL team physicians as advisers. Their approach focused on rotational forces on the brain instead of just linear ones.
Thanks to the more than $85 million raised, $1.1 million from the NFL, they launched the ZERO1 helmet in 2016. This product has a reflex layer'' inside the shell composed of dozens of separate columns of padding, which bend, compress, and move in response to force in every direction, whether it's linear or rotational. The helmet also has a deformable'' outer shell that morphs its shape when hit, acting like a car bumper to absorb the blow. Since acceleration is speed divided by time, you can reduce acceleration by either decreasing speed or prolonging the time of the impact. The idea behind the car bumper properties of ZERO1 is that it increases thetime of impact.
In 2018, 120 professional and college teams wore the ZERO1. Performance testing suggests that this collaborative approach between scientists and sports was working. The ZERO1 football helmet was ranked #1 in ability to reduce force to the head in the NFLs and NFL Player Association helmet laboratory performance testing from 2017-2019, every year it has been available.
While this innovative helmet design washailed by neuroscientists, players, and sports leagues alike, VICIS did not survive competition with Schutt and Riddell, the two dominant companies in the helmet industry. In late 2019, VICIS announced it was out of money.
Other scientists are taking up the challenge to build a better helmet. David Camarillo is not just an Assistant Professorat Stanford University, he is also a former college football tight end. In 2013,his research labdeveloped computerized mouth guards to help accurately chart head acceleration data upon head impacts.
Former NFL player Junior Seau died at age 43. The NIH concluded that he suffered from CTE
Wikimedia Commons
While most helmets use solids to absorb energy, like foam or the columns in the VICIS ZERO1, the Camarillo lab'sapproach introduces liquid into thehelmetwith the idea that liquids can absorb more energy than solids. Camarillo compares the design to a hydraulic shock absorber." The team used computer simulations of an NFL impact test and compared the liquid approach with four other helmets with different energy absorption technologies. Results from his study suggest that the helmet reduces the average brain tissue strain upon impact by about 25 percent and could reduce concussions by at least 75 percent. However, as these results are still based entirely on computer simulations, the safety and logistics of building an actual helmet are still in research stages.
A concussion is not the same as CTE
While these new helmets are intended to prevent concussions, singular events caused by one hit, they may still be insufficient to protect against CTE. CTE is a neurodegenerative disease resulting from cumulative hits, whether they are concussive or not, that occur many times over many years. CTE is nearly impossible to study as symptoms almost never occur until many years or decades after repeated head trauma and positive diagnosis is only possible through an autopsy after death.
Ann McKee is a neuropathologist and expert in neurodegenerative diseases. She also directs Boston Universitys CTE Center. Her 2017 paper became famous when it suggested that 99 percent of former NFL players showed pathological evidence of CTE based on data collected from former players whose brains had been donated to Boston brain banks. The paper was scrutinized on the grounds that brains donated for CTE diagnosis may be biased towards CTE presence (i.e. family members saw the signs while the donor was alive). Her 2019 article enhances the correlation by being the first paper to include a non-football playing control group.
Experts are still trying to understand how head injuries, concussions, and other factors change the brain to cause CTE.Some scientists, such as the VICIS team and the Camarillo lab, believe that reducing the fierceness of the hardest hits that result in isolated concussions through more effective helmets will reduce the number and severity of CTE cases.
In the past decade, the NFL has spent over$200 million on concussion research, with multi-million dollar contributions in 2016 and 2018. However, at least some of that research has been overshadowed by what seems on the surface like a practice of funding labs associated with the NFL while withholding funds from labs that are critical of the organization. Players' lives are at stake and it is beyond time that the multi-billion dollar organizations that run this sport start putting players over profits. New helmet designs may be exciting parts of the solution, but only if the goal remains focused on sparing participants a lifetime of brain damage. In mid-November 2019, the NFL announced a $2 million grant competition to create a new top performing helmet. Let's hope that it will go to unbiased researchers with good intentions.
- Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasnt Solved Brain Disordersand How We Can Change That, an excerpt - The Transmitter - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Nanowire Retinal Implant Restores Vision and Sees Infrared - Neuroscience News - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- KLOTHO NEUROSCIENCE, INC. ANNOUNCES AN APPROACH TO INCREASE LONGEVITY AND HEALTHY LIFE SPAN - REPLACE A SILENCED GENE CALLED ALPHA-KLOTHO... - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Obeying Orders Lowers Moral Responsibility Perception in the Brain - Neuroscience News - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Family Time and Parental Bonding Linked to Better Sleep in Preteens - Neuroscience News - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Study Links Gut Bacteria to MS Risk and Reveals Key Triggers - Neuroscience News - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Alto Neuroscience Announces Acquisition of Novel Dopamine Agonist Combination Product Candidate, Adding Late-Stage Readout in Treatment Resistant... - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Sleep-Wake Perception Intact in Many With Insomnia - Neuroscience News - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Cannabis Use Among U.S. Seniors Has Surged 46% in Just Two Years - Neuroscience News - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Anoki Integrates With Magnite While Seedtag Adds Neuroscience To Find Emotional Connections - TVREV - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Neuroscience: Knowing People's Names Makes You Empathize With Them Better. (By the Way, My Name Is Bill) - Inc.com - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- Kindness Sparks Cooperation by Boosting Social Connectedness - Neuroscience News - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- Neuroscience and Genetics of ADHD and Neurodevelopment - Neuroscience News - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- The Neuroscience of Cancer - Harvard Medicine Magazine - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- Singing to Infants Boosts Mood and Bonding - Neuroscience News - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- Neuroscience: Go Swimming and Your Brain Will Thank You - Inc.com - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- Blood Fat Links Found Between Heart Risk and Alzheimers - Neuroscience News - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- Tiny Brain Cell Cluster Found to Drive Obesity and Overeating - Neuroscience News - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- New Neuroscience Shows Why Its So Important to Read Aloud to Your Kids - Inc.com - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- Cats Can Recognize Their Owners by Smell Alone - Neuroscience News - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- St. Lukes Center for Neuroscience Helps Those with Same Illness as Billy Joel - TAPinto - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- These triplets who graduated from Georgia Tech with neuroscience degrees head to medical school - 11Alive.com - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- Gabe Newell co-founded a neuroscience company in 2019 and its first brain chip is expected to ship later this year - PC Gamer - June 1st, 2025 [June 1st, 2025]
- Next-Gen Painkiller Blocks Pain Without the High - Neuroscience News - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Inflammation Triggers Repetitive Behaviors in ASD and OCD - Neuroscience News - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Astrocytes Take Center Stage in Brain Function and Behavior - Neuroscience News - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Setting the SCENE for Neuroscience Breakthroughs - Mellon College of Science - Carnegie Mellon University - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Long COVID Brain Fog Linked to Inflammation and Stress Markers - Neuroscience News - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Warren Buffett Says Youre Too Focused on the Negative. Heres the Neuroscience Showing Hes Right - Inc.com - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Reading Fiction Boosts Empathy and Fights Loneliness - Neuroscience News - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Astrocytes, Not Neurons, Drive Brains Attention and Alertness - Neuroscience News - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Mapping Young Minds: The Neuroscience Behind Babilou Family Singapore's Revolutionary Education Model - PR Newswire - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Loneliness Linked to 24% Higher Risk of Hearing Loss - Neuroscience News - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Eureka Moments Double Memory by Rewiring the Brain - Neuroscience News - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Scientists use brain activity to predict StarCraft II skill in fascinating new neuroscience research - psypost.org - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- Stress of Long Work Hours May Physically Alter the Brain - Neuroscience News - May 21st, 2025 [May 21st, 2025]
- The Neuroscience of Dopamine: How to Triumph Over Constant Wanting - Next Big Idea Club - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- Verbal Abuse in Childhood Rewires the Developing Brain - Neuroscience News - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- Heavy Social Media Use Linked to Believing and Spreading Fake News - Neuroscience News - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- Brain Cells That Predict What Comes Next, Even When Its New - Neuroscience News - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- The Temperature | Better happiness through neuroscience - The Colorado Sun - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- Genes Strongly Influence When Babies Take Their First Steps - Neuroscience News - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- Using Music to Detect Concussion in Kids - Neuroscience News - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- Boosting Klotho Protein Slows Aging and Enhances Health - Neuroscience News - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- Eye Movements Set the Speed Limit for What You Can See - Neuroscience News - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- Seeing Is Believing: How We Judge AI as Creative or Not - Neuroscience News - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- Exercise Boosts Stem Cell Therapy for Parkinsons - Neuroscience News - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- Aspen Neuroscience Announces 6-Month ASPIRO Phase 1/2a Clinical Trial Results of Personalized Cell Therapy for Parkinson's Disease - BioSpace - May 12th, 2025 [May 12th, 2025]
- Sheffield Lab: Understanding the neuroscience of memories - University of Chicago News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Prenatal Stress Leaves Lasting Molecular Imprints on Babies - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Dean Buonomano explores the concept of time in neuroscience and physics - The Transmitter - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Psychedelics May Reset Brain-Immune Link Driving Fear and Anxiety - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Infant Social Skills Thrive Despite Hardship - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- From Cologne to Country Roads: One scientist's interdisciplinary journey to build bridges (and robotic insects) between neuroscience and engineering -... - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Eyes Reveal Intentions Faster Than We Think - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Immune Resilience Identified as Key to Healthy Aging and Longevity - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Energy Starvation Triggers Dangerous Glutamate Surges in the Brain - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute first in U.S. to successfully test innovative brain-computer interface technology to decode speech and language... - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Microglia Reprogrammed to Deliver Precision Alzheimers Therapies - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Neuroscience Says Music Is an Emotion Regulation Machine. Heres What to Play for Happiness, Productivity, or Deep Thinking - Inc.com - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Early Maternal Affection Shapes Key Personality Traits for Life - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Elons new neuroscience major highlighted by Greensboro News & Record - Elon University - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Brain Blast event at St. Lawrence University teaches local students neuroscience - North Country Now - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- AI Reveals What Keeps People Committed to Exercise - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- The "Holy Grail" of Neuroscience? Researchers Create Stunningly Accurate Digital Twin of the Brain - The Debrief - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Annenberg School Vice Dean Emily Falk publishes book on the neuroscience of decision-making - The Daily Pennsylvanian - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Music-Induced Chills Trigger Natural Opioids in the Brain - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change - think.kera.org - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Kile takes top neuroscience post at Sutter Health as system pushes to align care, expand trials - The Business Journals - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- A Grain of Brain, 523 Million Synapses, and the Most Complicated Neuroscience Experiment Ever Attempted - SciTechDaily - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Mild Brain Stimulation Alters Decision-Making Speed and Flexibility - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Cannabis studies were informing fundamental neuroscience in the 1970s - Nature - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- To make a meaningful contribution to neuroscience, fMRI must break out of its silo - The Transmitter - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Steve Jobss Unexpected Secret to Being More Creative (Backed by Neuroscience) - Inc.com - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Challenging Decades of Neuroscience: Brain Cells Are More Plastic Than Previously Thought - SciTechDaily - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Q&A: Lundbecks head of R&D on letting biology speak in neuroscience - Endpoints News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Why it's hard to study the neuroscience of psychedelics : Short Wave - NPR - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Fear Sync: How Males and Females Respond to Stress Together - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Chemotherapy Disrupts Brain Connectivity - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Newly awarded NIH grants for neuroscience lag 77 percent behind previous nine-year average - The Transmitter - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]