Auto racing safety engineer developing safer football helmets

Dr. Dean Sicking from the University of Alabama Birmingham is working to improve football helmet technology to decrease concussions and other effects of violent collisions.

With all of the sport’s issues with domestic violence and, at the collegiate level, proper compensation for athletes, football’s greatest concern for the future has to be the safety of its participants.

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Well, Dr. Dean Sicking of the University of Alabama Birmingham is developing helmet technology that would reduce the effects of violent collisions in football.

From Jon Solomon at CBS Sports:

"Dr. Dean Sicking, a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Engineering, said the helmet is designed to reduce concussions by 75 percent, and he hopes for a 50-percent cut once testing begins in October. He also envisions a larger goal: Change how football helmets are tested by using crash-test dummies on a sled.“Much of the football helmet industry sticks to the mantra, ‘We can’t prevent concussions’ and that’s where they stop,” Sicking said. “They try to improve themselves on arcane procedures that are designed to prevent skull fractures but doesn’t do anything to prevent concussions.”"

Sicking previously worked with both NASCAR and the Indy Racing League, developing a safer wall barrier that absorbs impact on speedways and drastically reducing the amount of injuries in the sport.

As football moves away from shell helmets and towards more flexible helmets, Sicking is trying to apply the same principles as the wall barrier by creating a helmet that absorbs energy from collisions. His sled simulations are providing him with more accurate data.

The issue of player safety is still an underreported one, and with each passing year new studies show the effects of football collisions and concussions on the human brain. The suicides of retired veterans like Junior Seau and Dave Duerson drag these stories into the light when both the NFL and its fans would rather not be reminded. Parents are now less likely to allow their children to play football, and eventually the sport’s decreasing talent base will catch up to its increasing exposure.

Meanwhile, basketball is growing in popularity while not having the moral dilemma of violent injuries that are incorporated into the culture and atmosphere of football. With the exception of the occasional dented face or exposed shinbone, basketball remains entertaining without an underlying ethical uneasiness. Basketball fans do not wonder: “Am I cheering in the stands of the modern gladiator pit?”

Improving the safety of the sport needs to be the football’s greatest priority, and if it is to remain a part of the American landscape, the developments of Dr. Sicking need to be supported and emphasized.

[H/T: CBS Sports]

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