New material may make NFL helmets safer........

[Steamboat7]

To my fellow Geeks, this may be of interest:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/6...9d3ef2b83a.htm

This is a huge, long term issue for the NFL and for all of football. If technology can produce a solution, it will keep this sport, that so many of us love, alive and well.

[samparnell]

Head protection is important and this technological advance may help. The head is connected to the body by the neck, and that is an issue in football that little will be able to mitigate as far as neck and spinal trauma are concerned.

[broncolee]

How's it going to stop the brain from moving in the skull?

[broncos SB2010]

How's it going to stop the brain from moving in the skull?

[gtown53]

How's it going to stop the brain from moving in the skull?

The 3-D printed material is superior to the polymer foam, currently in use, in absorbing the energy from various types of collisions. It's the energy from the hit to the helmet that causes the brain to move inside the skull. Of course, time will tell if it's enough to make a difference.

[Jim Mora]

Head protection is important and this technological advance may help. The head is connected to the body by the neck, and that is an issue in football that little will be able to mitigate as far as neck and spinal trauma are concerned.

Good point. The neck can only take so much impact.

[gtown53]

Concussions are less obvious than spinal cord injuries. And that's why concussions are finally getting some action from the NFL. Ken Stabler, who is up for the HOF this year, is the latest confirmed victim.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/04/sp...s&emc=rss&_r=0

There has been 200 concussions in the NFL in 2015. That's up from 123 in 2014.

And although the number of cervical or spinal injuries is small in comparison, they certainly do happen, and have since football began.

Here's an article about that:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...ughout-the-nfl

And, of course Broncos fans are very familiar with spinal injuries that we've seen with Peyton Manning, Derek Wolfe, Al Wilson, and many others.

If some new technology isn't created to deal with the issue of C.T.E. we will see the end of football, at some point down the road.

[Steamboat7]

How's it going to stop the brain from moving in the skull?

To a degree, you can't totally prevent that, but the energy from an impact has to go somewhere. A superior helmet absorbs a sharp blow and spreads the force of that impact over the widest possible area. That generally minimizes the trauma to the head.

[Rancid]

I like the idea of removing the helmets all together and having the players wear a couple of flags attached to their waist by Velcro. Any player that intentionally hits to the head has to sit in time out and forfeits after game snack privileges.

[Rich_C]

Concussions are less obvious than spinal cord injuries. And that's why concussions are finally getting some action from the NFL. Ken Stabler, who is up for the HOF this year, is the latest confirmed victim.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/04/sp...s&emc=rss&_r=0

There has been 200 concussions in the NFL in 2015. That's up from 123 in 2014.

And although the number of cervical or spinal injuries is small in comparison, they certainly do happen, and have since football began.

Here's an article about that:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...ughout-the-nfl

And, of course Broncos fans are very familiar with spinal injuries that we've seen with Peyton Manning, Derek Wolfe, Al Wilson, and many others.

If some new technology isn't created to deal with the issue of C.T.E. we will see the end of football, at some point down the road.

No we wont. It will just need ot be an acceptable risk of playing the sport which would be players would need to sign off on. What this could do however is greatly limit those who would be willing to play the sport. So a new technology which makes the sport safer could continue to bolster the sports appeal.

I think what footballs greatest risk in the future is that if there isn't something done to improve concussions that the NFL will be left with pro's who came form nothing exclusively and are willing to be the sacrificial lamb for the improved lifestyle of their families. In some respect this is already happening but not exclusively.