What’s In A Football Helmet Safety Rating?

With safety concerns mounting and new concussion research taking place every season, the football helmet has quickly become one of the most scrutinized pieces of protective apparel in sports.

Each year, manufacturers introduce new technologies to make their helmets more equipped to handle head impacts, rotational forces and linear impacts that occur during standard course of play. And now there are two laboratory studies that give us even more insight into how football helmets work.

Virginia Tech Football Helmet Rating Study
Virgina Tech Study
NFL/NFLPA Study

In 2011, Virginia Tech’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics released its first STAR rating system, putting football helmets to test in a lab environment. The study assigns a rating to each helmet and breaks them into six categories ranging from five stars (Best Available) to zero stars (Not Recommended).

In 2014, the NFL followed suit, forming an Engineering Subcommittee as part of its existing Head, Neck and Spine Committee. The subcommittee completed its first project in July of 2015, a helmet study jointly sponsored by the NFL and NFL Players Association (NFLPA). Initially, the study set a threshold and broke 10 of the 17 helmets into a “Top Performing Group” meaning none was statistically significant from the others.  Continue reading “What’s In A Football Helmet Safety Rating?”

Pop Warner Limits Contact During Football Practice

New rulings in Pop Warner leagues restrict contact drills to 1/3 of practice time, ban full speed, head-on tackling and blocking drills at 3 yards, and forbid head-to-head impact. All of these rulings are designed to protect young players during practice, and prevent repetitive and high-force head impacts, which can cause concussions and brain injuries over time.

In an effort to spark changes in football from the bottom up, Pop Warner is introducing new rulings which will officially limit contact between players during practices. The first of their kind across a nationwide football league, these changes go into effect at the beginning of the 2012 season, and are three fold;

Pop Warner Football

  • Coaches must limit contact drills to no more than 1/3 of weekly practice time, or no more than 40 minutes during a single practice.
  • Full speed, head-on blocking and tackling drills, where players line up more than three yards apart, are officially restricted – angled hits are still acceptable.
  • All head-to-head contact is banned.

All designed to prevent brain injuries, concussion, and long-term health issues, Pop Warner is working with coaches to ensure each ruling is followed.

Pop Warner LogoAs the oldest and largest national youth football organization, Pop Warner has over 83 years experience training kids age 5 to 15, in the art of football. Leagues exist in 43 states, and stretch abroad to Germany, Russia, Japan, and Scotland. It’s also estimated that over 70% of all current NFL players started in Pop Warner programs. So needless to say, a change of this magnitude, in such a powerful and influential organization, was not made lightly, or without purpose.

“There are times when people and organizations have to evolve, and this is that time,” said neurosurgeon and chair of Pop Warner’s Medical Advisory Board, Dr. Julian Bailes. “For the future of the sport, we need to morph it now and take the unnecessary head contact out of the game.”

These rule changes seem to be the natural reaction to a slew of research, studies, and media exposure revolving around the long- and short-term effects of concussions in football players. Major impacts and minor repetitive hits caused by players of all ages and sizes, have been shown to have serious negative effects on the brain, especially those of developing children. Sub-concussive forces are even believed to cause degenerative brain disorders such as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), the disease found in the brains of many former NFL, and even some teenage players. Research into the area has also found that most concussions, in youth and adults, occur during practice.

So is it surprising that organizations like Pop Warner are seeing a slight decrease in enrollment? Is it shocking that, with all of this information gracing the headlines, parents are becoming more and more reticent to drop their kids off at football practice?

Football DrillsDr. Bailes believes that “if parents were considering allowing their child to play football, this (rule change) should assure them.” But he and Pop Warner are also hopeful that these rule changes will trickle up, making the game safer for players over time. After all, if players are trained from an early age to rely on their hands and bodies, instead of leading with their heads in constant contact drills, they’ll take those skills into high school, and on to college. Some may even take them on into the NFL.

“We’re not trying to fundamentally change the game.” Bailes said of the rulings. “We’re trying to ensure its survival by reducing the potential for injury in practice.”

With more and more information surfacing on the long-term effects of concussions, the serious lawsuit brought by high profile players against the NFL, and in light of the recent suicide of former NFL linebacker Junior Seau, it seems that changes like these are becoming increasingly necessary, if our favorite sport is going to last.

By Brandon Porter.

Brandon is a product specialist at Sports Unlimited.

Should You Trust the Virginia Tech Football Helmet Ratings?

Explanation of the Virginia Tech STAR Rating for football helmets, and the benefits and objections to the study.

Concussions have always been a part of the game especially in football. But what was once referred to as simply “getting your bell rung,” has now become an incredibly serious health concern, leading to mental degeneration, persistent physical impairments, depression, and death. Concussions and Football helmets Among players, parents, and coaches, the growing fear of, and focus on concussions, their effects, and prevention have become priority number one, and for many, the first line of defense is the football helmet. Concussions are the result of a complicated event, with many variables, forces, and factors, ranging from the acceleration of the player to his genetics. Yet, at the end of the day, parents and players just want to find the best helmet to protect themselves from injuries. Unfortunately, consumers are really looking for a simple answer to a complex question.

Enter The STAR Rating System

After eight years of data collection, research, and experiments, in 2011, and again recently in 2012, Virginia Tech and their engineering department gave us an answer; the “STAR System” for rating the effectiveness of football helmets. Virginia Tech STAR helmet ratingSTAR, or the Summation of Tests for the Analysis of Risk, is a rating given to helmets, meant to describe their perceived effectiveness at reducing the risk of concussions. Each helmet is tested in an accredited lab, and using an algorithm developed by Stefan Dumma, lead engineer on the Virginia Tech rankings project, given a STAR value. According to Virginia Tech, this value is derived from 120 impacts on 3 new helmets, caused by dropping the helmet from a variety of heights, at four different positions, to simulate the range of helmet-to-helmet hits a player would experience on the field. After analyzing the results and data, the helmet is given a STAR rating, which attempts to define the number of concussions a player can expect to experience over the duration of one season, playing with that particular helmet.

2012 STAR Football Helmet Ratings

In 2012, Virginia Tech tested 15 adult large football helmet models using the STAR evaluation system. Helmets with higher STAR ratings provide a reduction in concussion risk, while those with lower ratings tend to provide less protection from concussions. Below are the published results of the 2012 STAR football helmet testing performed by Virginia Tech. Most of these helmets can be found at Sports Unlimited.  Please see the updated 2014 Virginia Tech Football Helmet Ratings.

5 Stars:
4 Stars:
3 Stars:
2 Stars:
1 Star:
NR:

Riddell 360

Rawlings Quantum Plus

Riddell Revolution Speed

Schutt Vengeance DCT*

Schutt ION 4D

Schutt DNA Pro +

Rawlings Impulse

Xenith X1

Riddell Revolution

Rawlings Quantum

Riddell Revolution IQ

Schutt AiR XP

Xenith X2

Schutt AiR Advantage

Riddell VSR4

AdamsA2000 Pro Elite

 

The Controversy Over Virginia Tech and STAR

Since it was first introduced into the industry in 2011, the Virginia Tech STAR rating for helmets has received both praise for informing players and parents of the effectiveness of certain helmets, and opposition from independent organizations like NOCSAE (the National Operation Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment) and manufacturers like Schutt and Xenith, accusing the study of dramatic limitations and misleading results. The controversy over the Virginia Tech football helmet study has grown heated in the past few weeks, following the publication of the 2012 results. Press releases and rebuttal statements from Schutt, NOCSAE, and engineers from Virginia Tech have cast the issue further into the public light, and have people questioning, at once, the validity of the STAR ratings, and the intentions of some of the most trusted manufacturers in the game today!

Objections to the Virginia Tech STAR Rating System

Opposition from Schutt, NOCSAE, and others center on the authority of the helmet rating system and Virginia Tech’s methodology in the lab. Since the testing only focuses on lateral acceleration impacts (direct helmet-to-helmet contact) and ignores rotational impacts (the glancing blows that twist the head and neck), many believe its results and data are severely limited. Virginia Tech football helmet test

“We believe the assumptions behind the study have been flawed from the start because it fails to acknowledge that current science has yet to pin down the actual injury mechanics that cause concussions.  The STAR rating system is limited in too many ways because it considers only linear force impacts and totally ignores many other factors that are involved in a concussive event.”

-Cortney Warmouth, Director of New Product Development, Schutt

Although respecting the tests and results as a leap forward in understanding the nature and prevention of concussions, NOCSAE and Schutt have both expressed concern that concussions are too complex an event to draw any strong conclusions by testing only one of many variables.

“NOCSAE does not recommend that parents and athletes form decisions on the safest and most effective equipment based on any single individual data point, rating, or measurement, including the Virginia Tech STAR football helmet rating system. Doing so may lead to inaccurate conclusions that one helmet brand or model has a measurably higher level of concussion protection than another for a particular athlete.”  

– Taken from NOCSAE press release

Schutt has taken their objections a step further, even though many of their helmets, such as the ION 4D and DNA Pro +, have received top STAR ratings in each test. Schutt’s objection to the Virginia Tech helmet study accuses it of prioritizing lower-velocity impacts over harder hits. In low speed impacts, softer helmet padding tends to perform better and absorb more shock, while at higher speeds, harder padding has been shown to protect players better. Typically, softer padded helmets are better at protecting younger players, who are generally not getting hit as hard as college or pro players. For instance, the Schutt 2012 AiR Standard II received a 5 STAR rating when tested by the same independent accredited lab, under the same conditions, and using the same algorithm used by Virginia Tech.

Schutt AiR Standard II 2012“While it passes the NOCSAE helmet standard, the 2012 AiR Standard II is an entry level helmet designed for younger players. The idea of putting such a helmet on a player at any high school, college or NFL team is absurd. The fact that it’s the best helmet in the STAR rating system should cause concern for anyone relying on the system for purchasing decisions.”  

– Robert Erb, President and CEO, Schutt Sports

In response to these accusations, the Virginia Tech team has admitted its limitations and explained that its STAR rating is merely meant as a research tool, not a buying guide. Their claim is that some information on the effectiveness of football helmets is better than nothing. Virginia Tech STAR Helmet RatingIn Virginia Tech’s helmet study methodology, the researchers directly describe the test’s limitations, admitting the complex, multi-faceted, and variable causes and nature of concussions. Admittedly, their numbers and rating system are simply based on trends and probabilities. While they also admit to only testing linear acceleration as well, the team explains that while all head impacts result in both linear and rotational accelerations, Virginia Tech engineers believe a correlation exists between the two forces. So, as they explore the one, they are also exploring the effects of the other. Obviously, this is a complicated issue, one based in science and sport, but also rooted in health and emotion. In our quest to provide the most well-rounded, up-to-date, and unbiased sporting goods information, we at Sports Unlimited have tried to present all of the facts and varying opinions on this developing issue. But to get the full picture, we need to hear from the people using this information and buying new helmets. So please, feel free to share your opinions and feelings on the Virginia Tech helmet ratings below! *Update: As it was not available for public purchase at the time, the Schutt Vengeance helmet was not tested in the VA Tech STAR Rating Study. However, using the same lab (Southern Impact Research Center in Rockford, TN) and publicly posted methods and algorithms as the VA Tech Study, Schutt independently tested the Vengeance, as well as others in its Varsity level helmet line. They found the Vengeance to score a STAR Value of 0.185. According to VA Tech’s publicly posted ratings, a 5-Star Helmet is rated between 0.200 – 0.299 STAR Value, while a 4-STAR helmet falls between 0.300 – 0.399 STAR Value. This would actually put the Vengeance above 5-STAR rated helmets. However, although their latest helmet is technically the highest rated, Schutt still believes the test to be inevitably flawed, and inaccurate of a helmet’s actual in-game performance and protection.

By Brandon Porter.Brandon is a product specialist at Sports Unlimited.