Biomechanical performance of leather and modern football helmets

Abstract

With the increased national concern about concussions in football, recent research has focused on evaluating the impact performance of modern football helmets. Specifically, this technical note offers a biomechanical analysis of classic leather helmets compared with modern helmets. Furthermore, modern helmets were examined to illustrate the performance differences between the better- and worse-performing ones. A total of 1224 drop tests were performed from a range of drop heights and impact locations on 11 different helmet types (10 modern and 1 leather helmet model). The resulting head acceleration was used to assess the risk of concussion for each drop test. The results of this analysis demonstrate that modern helmets are significantly and substantially superior to leather helmets in all impact scenarios, and that notable differences exist among modern helmets.