Football neck fracture in real time
Posted by staff / July 22, 2011
A helmet outfitted with the sensors that measures impact of collision on the football field captured in real time the force that caused a player to break his neck. It is rare for a high school or college student to suffer a broken neck. Concussions are much more common.
Each athlete’s body reacts differently to impact, but the average for concussion is about the same across high school, college, and professional. A concussion occurs at roughly 90 to 100 g-force, “which is like smashing your head against a wall at 20 mph,” says Steven Broglio, assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Michigan and lead author of a new study analyzing data from the helmets. The shuttle launch is about 3 g-force; a rolling fighter pilot about 5-10 g-force.
A high school football player takes about 652 impacts over a 12-13 week season. “I challenge you to find a parent who will tell their kid to bang their head against the wall 652 times in 12 weeks,” Broglio says. “It’s an interesting way to think about it.”
Full story at Futurity.
Photo credit: Steven Broglio, University of Michigan
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