Taking It On The Chin

As more is learned about the risk of concussions in football, from the NFL down to high school and youth leagues—where players are particularly vulnerable—the importance of a quick and proactive response to any suspected head injury is becoming ever clearer. What is also becoming clear is that relying on a high school football player to take himself out of the game after a concussive shot to the head is a losing medical strategy. Might as well ask if he wants to play in a tutu.

So a helmet featuring a chinstrap equipped with sensors that make the call themselves could be a brain saver. That's the idea behind the Indicator, an electronic chinstrap that gauges hits (based on accelerometer software technology) and uses colored lights to indicate the probability that a player has suffered a concussion. The Indicator, which should reach shelves this summer at a cost of $40 to $50, was field-tested this month in practices before the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio. "We're measuring the g-force, duration and direction of a hit. The device just says, There was a large hit, check the kid out," said Chris Circo, CEO of Battle Sports Science, which developed the Indicator. The difficulty, though, is in identifying criteria that define a bell-ringing blow.

Studies employing football helmets equipped with accelerometers have found that there is no particular g-force that can indicate a concussion in an individual player. Last year Purdue University researchers tracked hits on a high school team over an entire season and documented blows below 100 g's that caused concussions as well as some above 200 g's that did not. In that study the number of blows to the head over the season was a better indicator of impaired brain function than was the severity of a particular shot.

"We sincerely hope that there will be a device that can determine when an athlete is at risk of [head] injury," says Eric Nauman, one of the Purdue researchers, "but right now it isn't feasible due to the limited understanding of the biomechanics surrounding concussions." Still, Circo notes that for the many high school teams that don't have a certified athletic trainer, the Indicator is another set of electronic eyes on the field.