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STAFF
HOKIES
HISTORY
PROS
MEDIA
REVIEW
BEAMER
#HardSmartTough
#Hokies
#LPD
As part of his research,
biomedical engineering
professor Stefan Duma
tests football helmets
to reduce the risk of
concussions to players.
VIRGINIA TECH LEADING THE WAY IN HEAD IMPACT RESEARCH
In 2003, Virginia Tech was the first school to use the HIT System
to monitor head impacts experienced by its football players. The HIT
System consists of a sensor array that integrates into existing football
helmets. This device measures head acceleration for every impact
that players experience during each game and practice in which they
participate. After each impact is recorded, data is sent to a computer
on the sideline for real-time feedback.
While researchers have used the HIT System to better understand
the biomechanics of concussion and head impact exposure in
football, the athletics training and medical staff have used the system
as another tool improve concussion identification in athletes. Virginia
Tech is participating in a new, landmark $30 million national effort
sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the
U.S. Department of Defense to combat concussions among college
athletes and active service military personnel.
The initiative funds the most comprehensive study of concussion
and head impact exposure ever conducted. It will enroll an estimated
25,000 male and female NCAA student-athletes during a three-year
study period. Virginia Tech is focusing on athletes participating in
various sports, including football, women’s soccer, men’s soccer, and
women’s lacrosse.
The 2016 football season will be the 14th year that Virginia Tech
has collected head impact data from its players. To date, more than
200,000 head impacts have been collected and analyzed. The head
acceleration data collected at Virginia Tech using the HIT System
has allowed researchers to quantify the head impact exposure that
collegiate football players experience.
In addition, these data have produced valuable insight to the head
accelerations associated with concussion. Beginning in 2013, the
sports medicine staff started a new study looking at different biomarker
levels found in the blood of its athletes. These levels are measured
before and after the season, as well as in the unlikely event of a
concussion being diagnosed. Researchers are looking for correlations
between the force that each of these athletes sustain over the course
of a season (through using the HIT System) and the changes they find
in the levels of these specific biomarkers.
Knowing the location, severity, and frequency of head impacts
experienced during a season of collegiate football, Virginia Tech
researchers developed the STAR, an acronym for the Summation of
Tests for the Analysis of Risk, Evaluation System. This system evaluates
the ability of football helmets to reduce the probability of concussion,
and disseminates the results to the public so that consumers can
make informed decisions when purchasing helmets.
The STAR Evaluation System involves a series of 20 drop tests
consisting of different impact locations and energies that represents
impacts experienced by collegiate football players. Each drop test
is weighted based on how often a player experiences that impact
scenario throughout a season of play. For each test, risk of concussion
is determined based on the head acceleration produced by each
helmet.
An overall predicted incidence of concussion is calculated for each
helmet for the given impact exposure to assess helmet performance.
This is the first tool to assess helmet performance and make the
results available to the public, allowing consumers to make informed
decisions when purchasing a new helmet.
Led by Dr. Stefan Duma, this work has resulted in a paradigm shift
in the way consumers purchase helmets, as well as how helmets are
designed. Duma’s work and data has been featured nationally on
ESPN and NBC, as well as in the New York Times and other nationally
recognized media outlets.
HEAD IMPACT RESEARCH