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Reebok Unveils Innovative ‘Concussion Checklight’ (Photo)

By Hayden Kane

Oct 2, 2014; Green Bay, WI, USA; NFL Logo on the goal post padding during the game between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Green Bay won 42-10. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2014; Green Bay, WI, USA; NFL Logo on the goal post padding during the game between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Green Bay won 42-10. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports /
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The NFL will not be able to use this ‘Concussion Checklight’ for sponsorship reasons, but Reebok still earned some well-deserved praise for the invention with a recent award.

Increasingly, football organizations at all levels have tried to take the judgment out of players’ and coaches’ hands when it comes to concussions. For too long, players were allowed to talk their way back into the game, sometimes under pressure from teammates and coaches.

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With an increasing focus on player safety in the NFL as an example for lower levels, teams now have independent physicians who are responsible for deciding if players with concussions can re-enter the game. That adds a certain objectivity and it certainly adds expertise to the process, but it is still a human being, subject to the pressures of the moment, who is making that call.

That is not to say that those doctors should not be trusted, but wouldn’t it be nice to give them a tool to take some of that pressure off their hands? It is with that in mind that Reebok created a “concussion checklight.”

How well the invention would work in practice would still have to be proven. It will likely be tested at some level in the near future after it received a Corporate Entrepreneur Award this week.

Here is a photo of the concussion checklight, along with that brief explanation about its usage, courtesy of Darren Rovell:

It might not be perfect, but these are the types of innovations that football organizations should continue to seek. Good on Reebok. Now, if only the NFL could actually use it.

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