Communications of the ACM
NFL Fighting Head Injuries with Technology
The NFL is turning to technology to both measure and mitigate pro football's effect on players' brains, pushing into unexplored territory as officials try to protect personnel from the violence of the sport.
But even as the league cracks down on helmet-to-helmet hits and subjects concussed players to more rigorous medical scrutiny, NFL officials and experts acknowledge they don't yet have the data they need to fully understand what causes concussions. If they can, with the help of technology, gain a greater understanding in that area, they hope that will help them better protect players against head injuries.
"We see impacts with an enormous amount of energy and the player is not concussed," said Richard Ellenbogen, co-chairman of the NFL's head, neck and spine committee. "And then we see a hit with less energy and the player is concussed. We have not been able to match the two. . . The goal is to see if we can correlate the impacts with the outcome in terms of concussion."
From The Washington Post
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