Design of a Football Helmet to Reduce the Risk of

Subdural Brain Hemorrhaging Vanderbilt University

Senior Design Group 3Doug Browne, Jeff Markle, Tyler Severance

Background InformationFootball began – 1869Head injuries always have been part of the game…

became more significant past 30 yearsHelmet quality and effectiveness regulated by

National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE)

Minimum translational and rotational accelerations were found which were considered “safe”

Unfortunately, these overlap with values that have been known to cause subdural hemorrhagesBasis of project

How does this relate to injuries?Bridging Veins (BVs) rupture when vessel

stretches to about 150% of normal resting length

Impossible to actually test this in laboratory settings for football players

Thus, it has been shown that “for the average duration of a helmeted collision in the NFL (15 ms) is thought to approximate 4,500-10,000 rad/s^2” (Forbes)

Because this number is lower than tolerable collisions that occur in the NFL (and collegiate and high school level football), changes must be made

First: The DecisionRight off the bat, our advisor proposed an

opportunity to change our projectIn lieu of studying helmets in football

collisions, we could choose to research ways to create a waterproof seal of the blood brain barrier to be used in brain surgeries through the nasal cavity

Group weighed pros and cons of each potential project as well as researched several current articles on both topics

Result: Stick with the HelmetMultiple reasons:

This is something all three of us are passionate about

Much more practicality for the ME in our group

Applied physics is more fun!Wider applications of use (surgeries are

narrow scope and few and far between… football is played every week at many different levels)

Progress UpdateAdvisor meeting

Change Directions?Research the two topics

Decision: Helmet design More interesting Utilize Doug’s talents

More ProgressSubject Research

Journals, web, contact groups

NCIIA grant proposal completed

Website updated

Future PlansProcure HelmetsDesign experiment to test translational

acceleration and angular accelerationAfter establishing baseline data, design

helmet to reduce angular accelerationResearch helmet re-certification processMake improvements to the re-certification

process to insure used helmets are safe to use

We need your help:Lab studies?Equipment questionsTesting DummiesSimulating collisions

Sourceshttp://

www.freevectors.net/details/Football+Helmethttp://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/ncaa-

football-07/719937p1.htmlForbes, Jonathan. Biomechanics of Subdural

Hemorrhage in American Football. Department of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Nashville, TN. 2010