PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Many young U.S. football players returning to the gridiron could help prevent a concussion if their helmets were properly fitted, an expert says.
Dr. Eugene Hong, chairman of the department of family medicine and chief of the division of sports medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, studied the relationship between football helmet fitting techniques and concussions in high school athletes.
He says most of the head injuries young players receive are "completely preventable" and can be attributed to a helmet's improper fit.
"While professional and college teams have people trained in how to properly fit an athlete with a helmet, most high school and youth programs do not," he says. "Unfortunately, that leaves a lot of young athletes without proper head protection to avoid a potentially serious injury."
In Hong's study, the most commonly missed helmet-fitting techniques by coaches included misjudgments on placement from facemask-to-nose, helmet-above-eyebrow and chin-strap distance apart.
Hong presented his findings at the American College of Sports Medicine meeting and will publish them this fall in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.
