Wrap your head around this: Expensive sports helmets with lots of padding may not offer greater protection, according to new research from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. When researchers recorded the age, price, and brand of 2,000 high school athletes’ football helmets, it appeared that none of those factors had any impact on who got concussions and who didn’t.
Turns out, adding more features—like additional padding—makes a helmet seem safer, but it doesn’t reduce the force your brain experiences during a tackle, says study author Timothy McGuine, Ph.D. Think of your brain like an egg: If you wrap it in enough padding before dropping it, you can prevent the shell from cracking, but no amount of padding will stop the yolk—your brain—from getting scrambled, explains McGuine.
But there is a way to upgrade you and your kids’ headwear for some activities: Look for products that have MIPS technology on the packaging. While it’s not yet available for football helmets, you’ll find it is used in protective gear made for cycling, snow, and equestrian sports.
The reason: Concussions aren’t just a result of the force of crashing, but how quickly your head rotates, according to a George Washington University study. When your noggin twists quickly, it causes tiny tears in the tissue that carries information. MIPS technology is designed to lessen the rotational energy by letting parts of the helmet slip over one another, dissipating the force.
For everything you need to know about concussions, check out our recent report, “Are You Putting Your Brain on the Front Lines?”
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