Helmet covers - what is the purpose?

[mlh]

Why do some of the players have what looks like pads on their helmets and what purpose do they serve?

 

[Padreruf]

Cushion against concussions...may help but the brain rattles around inside the skull like an egg inside a shell. I heard an explanation that you could put an egg inside a bucket filled with concrete and that if you dropped it the egg yolk, etc., would still vibrate -- much as a brain does inside the skull.

 

[gtgilbert]

Why do some of the players have what looks like pads on their helmets and what purpose do they serve?

Guardian Caps | Guardian Sports

Guardian Caps are the leading soft shell helmet cover engineered for impact reduction. Worn by the NFL, 500+ colleges and 5000+ high schools.

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Additional layer of protection. They have a lot of research from a few of the leading sports technology safety institutes and universities that claim the soft pads reduce the amount / degree of impact passed through to the more interior layers.

Company is based here in GA and they do a lot of other sports tech stuff as well based in material science. Better chin straps (on the way), better turf infil for artificial turf, lacrosse balls that don't lose their grip over time, etc

 

[mlh]

I figured it was a safety measure of some kind, just didn't know what exactly. Thanks.

 

[BamaMoon]

I suspect in time they will become standard use. I think they look silly and that's probably why many players won't wear them.

Tua refuses to, but needs to.

 

[uafan4life]

Cushion against concussions...may help but the brain rattles around inside the skull like an egg inside a shell. I heard an explanation that you could put an egg inside a bucket filled with concrete and that if you dropped it the egg yolk, etc., would still vibrate -- much as a brain does inside the skull.

That's a terrible analogy.

It's about lessening the transfer of kinetic energy.

A better analogy would be wrapping an egg in bubble wrap and dropping it. The chance of the yolk breaking is lessened compared to without the bubble wrap...

 

[Padreruf]

That's a terrible analogy.

It's about lessening the transfer of kinetic energy.

A better analogy would be wrapping an egg in bubble wrap and dropping it. The chance of the yolk breaking is lessened compared to without the bubble wrap...

It still moves around inside the shell/skull...terrible analogy or not.

 

[gtgilbert]

It still moves around inside the shell/skull...terrible analogy or not.

but in the explanation you heard, the concrete does nothing to change the rate of deceleration of the egg/yolk. It passes the deceleration straight through and that's what impacts the brain. In your analogy, the concrete is like the hard shell of a helmet. To be applicable to the helmet the analogy would have to add wrapping a pillow top mattress around the bucket of concrete, with a layer of bubble wrap around the egg before it's put in the concrete. This is going decrease the suddenness of the impact, and change the rate of deceleration. The yolk would still move some, but not nearly as much, which is what increases the degree of protection it offers.

 

[JDCrimson]

Same reason cars are designed today to crush in accidents so the occupants have a greater chance of walking away from the crash alive or uninjured.

 

[Tideflyer]

I suspect in time they will become standard use. I think they look silly and that's probably why many players won't wear them.

Tua refuses to, but needs to.

And CTE is not a serious condition. Right. This is right up there with continuing to smoke, knowing full well the consequences. Then again, football in general is not compatible with the human body, so…..

 

[Padreruf]

but in the explanation you heard, the concrete does nothing to change the rate of deceleration of the egg/yolk. It passes the deceleration straight through and that's what impacts the brain. In your analogy, the concrete is like the hard shell of a helmet. To be applicable to the helmet the analogy would have to add wrapping a pillow top mattress around the bucket of concrete, with a layer of bubble wrap around the egg before it's put in the concrete. This is going decrease the suddenness of the impact, and change the rate of deceleration. The yolk would still move some, but not nearly as much, which is what increases the degree of protection it offers.

Agree somewhat...the point is that padding the helmet may be fools gold in that it does not provide the protection that one would expect on the surface. What would happen if we did away with helmets? Would players avoid leading with their heads? No doubt...at least the smart ones. Would this result in fewer concussions? Who knows? One sport that seems to have a high degree of concussions is soccer -- especially for women.