Can Football Helmets Prevent Concussions

People watching football may assume that players are quite safe, considering the huge helmets and all the big pads they wear during play. However, it’s an erroneous assumption, particularly when it comes to those helmets and ever-dangerous concussions.

Football helmets cannot prevent concussions 100%. While modern helmets are much better than those of the past and incorporate a considerable amount of modern technologies into the protective headgear, concussions still occur in football games.

In fact, concussions and head/neck injuries remain a serious issue in football at all levels. In the National Football League, it has resulted in many changes including to the rule book, and the gear including the helmets.

Still, no matter how many modern advancements manufacturers appy, or high-tech wizardry they use, there is no concussion-proof helmet. And probably never will be.

Football Helmet Design vs. Concussions

Let’s dig into what football helmets are made of, and the reasons for features and design.

What football helmets are made from depends on the part. While on television or in stadiums helmets may appear as a single piece, in fact it is 4 distinct and separate parts, attached together to create the whole head protective item.

There is the big round hard outer shell, which has been molded polycarbonate since the 1960s. Lining the inside of that shell are foam pads or air-filled pockets, as cushioning between that hard shell and the human skull.

Top-level football helmet face masks are made of  titanium, for plenty of strength with a light weight. Finally, the whole package is held in place by a detachable chin strap made usually of rubber.

For the most protection, think of the outer shell. Early helmets were made of leather and many initial versions were to protect the soft-tissue ears, which would get smashed between bones on tackles; or the forehead during straight head-to-head bonks.

Helmet-makers shifted to hard materials in the late 1940s, before beginning the switch to the very hard, durable, and light polycarbonate the following decade.

The main design goal of the football helmet shell is to protect the skull, the bone system around the brain. It does that quite well. Football players rarely fracture skulls.

However, in the process of cushioning the skull to a sudden stop, helmets do nothing for the brain inside, which has no cushioning to lessen the impact with sides of the skull.

That is how concussions occur. They are not direct smacks on a part of the brain. They are the result of the brain moving inside and crashing hard into the walls of a skull that has suddenly stopped.

Without somehow cushioning the brain inside, it probably is impossible to prevent all concussions in football.

We must remember that young brains are still developing, so parents tend to look very carefully at youth helmets for football.

However, in the process of cushioning the skull to a sudden stop, helmets do nothing for the brain inside, which has no cushioning to lessen the impact with sides of the skull.

Essential for certain positions are special features like side-impact cushioning. For instance, football helmets for wide receivers probably should have some of that aforementioned side protection; 

That is how concussions occur. They are not direct smacks on a part of the brain. They are the result of the brain moving inside and crashing hard into the walls of a skull that has suddenly stopped. Imagine the brain floating in fluid inside the skull; it is not totally stationary.

Football Helmets and Impact Reduction

However, with application of some features, modern football helmets work as a whole to as softly as possible stop that skull, as opposed to having the head completely stop instantaneously as if crashing into a wall.

These are called impact reduction features. They can be:

• The thermoplastic powder coating over the facemasks, which soften (or “give” a little) on hard collisions
• Face masks are attached to the helmet with less rigid connectors that can bend and give on impacts
• Helmet shells can be segmented, and not always the perfect sphere shape, so big pieces and can actually shift or “give” some on hits
• Many high-quality chin straps feature thick or padded cups over the chin
• The foams on the interior can be relatively hard to the touch if pressed, but if pressed hard they give in softly

Again, all these features do not guarantee lack of concussions. Football helmets are designed to prevent skull fractures, and reduce the chance for serious brain or spine injuries.

Other Ways Football Players Avoid Concussions

There is no guaranteed thing that football players can do to avoid concussions. However, not playing recklessly is a start.

Concussions occur when a player’s head collides hard with either another helmet, or with the ground. With the advent of artificial turf (fake grass or fake turf), the latter started occurring more in the 1970s. However, in recent years the number of stadiums with grass or turf fields has leveled out to nearly equal.

Also, ground frozen to the point where all moisture in the soil freezes can be just as hard as concrete.

Aside from the ground, it’s helmet-to-helmet contacts that cause head and neck injury. Players should be taught at a young age the proper mechanics of tackling, including hitting with the forehead and not with the very top of the head which is dangerous to the spine.

Defensive players can be taught to play aggressively but controlled, that is, not throwing their body around haphazardly as if just hoping for some sort of disruptive collision.

Finally, there are rules to prevent such head injuries, such as for spearing, the practice of catapulting a body hard and fast straight into a ball carrier, head faced down and body stiff (like a spear), with arms tucked to the sides.

In recent years the NFL also has also changed a lot of rules on kickoffs to prevent injuries. During kickoffs, players from both teams run full speed into each other, and some of the worst injuries occurred on special teams.

It’s a reason why they moved the spot where kicks are made forward, which in turn created more touchbacks and fewer plays requiring hard tackles.

Leagues also added a lot of rules to prevent head-to-head contact. In some instances, such as during quarterback sacks, it may be hard for a defensive player to avoid such contact. However, even accidental head-to-head contact on a quarterback can result in a called foul.