ROCKFORD, Tenn., June 17 (UPI) -- A Tennessee lab is testing football helmets with sensors to pick up data when players are hit that could help develop new protective rules and equipment.
At the moment, the helmets are worn by Hybrid III headforms, which have movable jaws and nylon stockings to simulate hair, USA Today reported Friday. The headforms have their own sensors and engineers are trying to determine how well the information provided by helmet sensors matches that from the dummy heads.
If the tests at the Southern Impact Research Center show the Riddell Revolution and Riddell Revolution Speed helmets pick up accurate information, they will be tested on a sample of NFL players, officials said.
The effect of concussion and head impact is an increasing concern in football. Severe brain damage has been found not only in NFL veterans, but in college and even high school players.
Kevin Guskiewicz, who serves on the NFL head, neck and spine committee and directs sports-related brain injury research at the University of North Carolina, said he hopes a pilot project will be under way within a season or two.
"The purpose is to find out in real time out on the field, as opposed to in a laboratory like we're doing here, what types of impacts players take," Guskiewicz said.
