Evaluating the Performance of a Hockey Helmet in Mitigating Concussion Risk Using Measures of Acceleration and Energy During Simulated Free Fall

Zerpa, Carlos; Carlson, Stephen; Przysucha, Eryk; Liu, Meilan; Sanzo, Paolo

doi:10.4018/ijeach.2021070104

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Further threshold curves (e.g. Gadd severity index [124] and head injury criterion [125]) integrate acceleration over a portion of the impact duration, with a weighting factor for high accelerations [95,109,[125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142].…”

Section: Measures Of Concussion Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanical metamaterials for sports helmets: structural mechanics, design optimisation, and performance

Haid,

Foster,

Hart

et al. 2023

Smart Mater. Struct.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sports concussions are a public health concern. Improving helmet performance to reduce concussion risk is a key part of the research and development community response. Head impacts with compliant surfaces that cause long duration moderate or high linear and rotational accelerations are associated with a high rate of clinical diagnoses of concussion. As engineered structures with unusual combinations of properties, mechanical metamaterials are being applied to sports helmets, with the goal of improving impact performance and reducing brain injury risk. Replacing established helmet material (i.e., foam) selection with a metamaterials design approach (structuring material to obtain desired properties) allows development of near optimal properties. Objective functions based on up to date understanding of concussion could be applied to topology optimisation regimes, when designing mechanical metamaterials for helmets. Such regimes balance computational efficiency with predictive accuracy, both of which could be improved under high strains and strain rates to allow helmet modifications as knowledge of concussion develops. Researchers could also share mechanical metamaterial data, topologies and computational models in open, homogenised repositories, to improve the efficiency of their development.

show abstract

Section: Measures Of Concussion Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanical metamaterials for sports helmets: structural mechanics, design optimisation, and performance

Haid,

Foster,

Hart

et al. 2023

Smart Mater. Struct.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The mechanical energy is calculated by the product of force and displacement. When applying the concept of energy absorption to examine the elastic properties of a boxing headguard material during static testing, it involves a loading force over some deformation of the material, and subsequently an unloading force over some restoration of the shape of the material (Marsh et al, 2004, Zerpa et al, 2019. Specifically, the force has a normal component as well as a shear component.…”

Section: Issues Controversies and Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Boxing Headguards in Mitigating Head Impact Accelerations That Cause Concussions by Using a Dynamic Head Model

Rybak

Sanzo

Liu

et al. 2023

International Journal of Extreme Automation and Connectivity in Healthcare

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Boxing headguards offer a form of head protection to minimize the risk of head injuries for athletes. Existing literature, however, lacks information regarding the protective capabilities of boxing headguards. This study examined the protective capacity of three boxing headguards in minimizing impact accelerations to the head that cause concussions using a dynamic head model. The researchers implemented thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) inserts in one of the headguards and conducted static tests to examine the material properties of the headguards. The researchers also conducted dynamic testing using a surrogate headform to compare the three boxing headguards in minimizing the risk of concussion for measures of linear and rotational accelerations across different head impact locations. The results of this study revealed that TPU significantly mitigated the magnitude of linear and rotational accelerations when compared to the other headguards. This study offers an avenue to improve athlete safety.

show abstract

“…2.4 (C)) that must be impacted [18,20,[171][172][173][174] or precisely define locations (Fig. 2.4 (A & B)) [128][129][130]152,153,158,159]. Most of the prescribed impact vectors in test standards are centric, with some exceptions [149,175].…”

Section: Test Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The headform is available in three sizes and consists of a urethane covering that is moulded to a headform [22,108,110]. It is used in all NOCSAE helmet standards [149][150][151][152][153][154][155] and commonly used in research [39,103,118,[156][157][158][159][160][161][162][163][164][165].…”

Section: Anthropomorphic Test Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Towards concussion prevention in ice hockey: mechanical metamaterial liners and helmet assessment

Haid

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ice hockey has one of the highest concussion rates in sport. During player-to-player collisions, the most common concussive scenario, helmets have been shown to offer limited protection. Helmet testing that is representative of the broad range of potential head impacts requires extensive specialist equipment, while certification standards are currently not assessing the impact scenario that most commonly causes concussions in ice hockey. Consequently, helmets protect well in the scenario they are certified and designed for – falls onto stiff surfaces – but provide limited protection during other commonly occurring impacts, especially impacts with more compliant bodies. Due to the wide range of injurious head impacts in ice hockey, it is challenging to develop a helmet that protects well in all scenarios. The aim of this programme of research was to develop a simplified test method, capable of replicating common ice hockey head impacts. Then, to investigate the capabilities of a mechanical metamaterial to enhance protection during collisions without compromising protection during more severe head impacts. A novel test method, utilising laboratory equipment that is available to most researchers with an interest in impact protection, to replicate head impacts in ice hockey was developed and validated. It has been shown that a free-fall drop test method, with interchangeable impact surface orientation and compliance, can be used to create impact events that are representative of a range of common ice hockey head impacts. This newly developed test method can produce kinematic responses within less than 10% of key metrics obtained by current best practice methods to replicate ice hockey collisions and may facilitate widespread and more thorough testing in academic research and modifications to current test standard procedures. A series of investigations were conducted to assess the potential of a mechanical metamaterial, comprising bi-beam structures, with an adaptive response to specific impact scenarios. Testing and modelling of individual bi-beams, unit cells, and cellular structures of bi-beams suggest a cellular structure, comprising bi-beams, can be developed by arranging unit cells relative to each other between two stiff sandwich plates. It has been shown that controlling the direction of buckling and the associated contact situations, can cause an abrupt switch in stiffness (~155 – 180%) in axial direction. Applied as a liner in an ice hockey helmet, this could achieve enhanced protection against an additional cause of injury – collisions – without compromising the performance in the scenario the helmets are currently designed for – falls. Dimensional scalability facilitates a wide range of possible designs and fields of application. This programme of research contributes to the body of knowledge of head impact testing and helmet technologies to better protect players. Findings could help in developing better helmets that protect players against a wider range of head impacts which in turn would reduce concussions and make participation safer.

show abstract

Evaluating the Performance of a Hockey Helmet in Mitigating Concussion Risk Using Measures of Acceleration and Energy During Simulated Free Fall

Cited by 3 publications

References 21 publications

Mechanical metamaterials for sports helmets: structural mechanics, design optimisation, and performance

Mechanical metamaterials for sports helmets: structural mechanics, design optimisation, and performance

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Boxing Headguards in Mitigating Head Impact Accelerations That Cause Concussions by Using a Dynamic Head Model

Towards concussion prevention in ice hockey: mechanical metamaterial liners and helmet assessment

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About