The next level: Sensor-packed football helmets

In every football game the players have to deal with impacts on their head. And though everybody on the field is wearing a helmet, the head of every athlete still suffers from the mild to heavy blows delivered to the helmet. The most common injury to the brain is a concussion. And the bad thing about concussions is that most of the times you won't see any sign of it. While only a small percentage of players are knocked unconscious while getting injured, most players played through the injury and never seek medical attention. The long term effects are hazardous, they range from memory loss to alzheimer-like symptomes. Riddell now tests a new generation of football helmets. Their latest invention is packed with sensors that measure every hit to the head. The real-time-data is send to a computer that sends out an alert if a hit or a series of hits reach a dangerous level. The problem is that every brain and skull is different. One hit knocks out one player while an other player doesn't feel any effects. But with the real-time-data a coach can decide if he wants to pull out a player from the game or practice and get him checked medically. You can't avoid concussions with this helmet, but you can make sure that the players get medical attention, so you can reduce the long term effects. What about the costs? Well, the new helmet will cost about 1000 dollars. But the safety of your brain or your kid's brain should be worth it. More informations at Ridell.com