Protective Headgear

[Carnac]

I previously posted this a few weeks back, since a thread was created specifically on headgear let me try again here.

View attachment 83903

I may be in the minority, but if it's legal, and sanctioned by the NCAA, and one or more of our players could really use one, I say go for it. I don't think it's funny at all. I'm not laughing. I really don't care how it looks. Concussions are not funny, especially if YOU'VE had one.

As a coach, trainer or administrator, it's your duty and responsibility to protect ALL of your players....period!!! Any piece of equipment that helps keep any player safe (not just ours), I'm all for it. Lest I remind you, ALL of these girls are somebody's daughter. I hate to see any WCBB player get hurt.

 

[Blond D.]

I know this is gonna sound strange but instead of helmets or head pads what the girls need is lessons in judo to teach them how to fall without banging their heads. Ive played many different sports including tackle football and had some martial art lessons and learning to fall the right way has kept me from getting concussions plus broken wrists or arms.
Like its been brought up in several posts, Helmets dont stop concussions.

 

[sun]

Some headgear should at least be made available during practice since it's understandable that some players might be self-conscious about wearing it in a game due to being embarrassed.
Considering that Carol was injured in practice, I wonder if any has yet been made available to her or not by UConn.
Just because she wears a yellow "no contact" jersey doesn't mean that she won't fall on her own without contact.
Of course a player would need to be willing to wear it, if a mutually agreeable style were to be made available.

I wonder if the staff has an official policy yet on offering headgear to players being eased back onto the court after being concussed?
Do you think that the school offered the facemask to Edwards or do you that she had to buy it on her own?
It seems that the team provides most all of the other protection that the players wear.
These are questions that I have as a CT citizen & fan.

 

[OldAlum]

I wonder if they do some fall training. Unfortunately there are some instances in which the head contact cannot be avoided - some trips, collisions with other players etc.

Helmets can prevent or lessen concussions. The falling on cushy towels analogy works. I ride horses and helmets are mandatory in most venues. When you are dealing with people possibly being launched from height at speed, the injury potential is high! These helmets have been stringently tested.

I would think a minimal helmet such as those sno-cat showed would help Caroline's confidence as well as offer some protection.

 

[Cornell Lt]

Here is a study from Wisconsin University regarding protective headgear and concussions. Although the study relates to soccer specifically, I would imagine that the findings would be quite the same for basketball.

- News - School of Medicine and Public Health

www.med.wisc.edu

 

[Ardenque]

Here is a study from Wisconsin University regarding protective headgear and concussions. Although the study relates to soccer specifically, I would imagine that the findings would be quite the same for basketball.

- News - School of Medicine and Public Health

www.med.wisc.edu

An important finding in the study was that females suffered concussions at more than twice the rate of males.

 

[Blond D.]

An important finding in the study was that females suffered concussions at more than twice the rate of males.

Thats cuz boys play games where they fall down a lot and and know how not to bang their heads. Also boys have stronger necks, backs and cores.

 

[uconnfan68]

I don't think the concussion problem is that wide spread in basketball from contact with other players. The concussions I have seen have been when the head hits the hardwood floor. Since UCONN is the one having these issues maybe they need to take a look at their workouts and see if something could be changed there to help.

The other thing is once a person has a serious concussion they are very susceptible to more concussions with lesser impacts. The main thing is to make sure you don't come back to soon.

Most of the hits were in games, not practice.

 

[augustaTC]

Once again, a serious subject is met with a plethora of childish responses.

 

[Bigboote]

I know this is gonna sound strange but instead of helmets or head pads what the girls need is lessons in judo to teach them how to fall without banging their heads. Ive played many different sports including tackle football and had some martial art lessons and learning to fall the right way has kept me from getting concussions plus broken wrists or arms.

I've said this several times after someone breaks a hand or wrist trying to break a fall. I had to learn to roll after suffering a few shoulder dislocations from putting my arms out front of me while falling.

 

[freshler40]

I see the potential for NIL deals here. Perhaps a helmet endorsed by a physical player. Maybe players buying "the Nika!" helmet! Ha!

Maybe a complete bodywrap would help with recurring full chest bumps.

 

[JRRRJ]

Here is a study from Wisconsin University regarding protective headgear and concussions. Although the study relates to soccer specifically, I would imagine that the findings would be quite the same for basketball.

- News - School of Medicine and Public Health

www.med.wisc.edu

I have questions about this study.

1. They had 88 schools with girls teams and divided them in half. But they don't report the number of active athletes in each group. (But the original article did.)
2. Many soccer players sit out whole games, some play a few minutes in a game, so game+practice minutes could vary widely amongst the players. The rate of concussions per active minute would be a useful stat, and since they "used licensed medical professionals in the field to record the onset" they should have been able to provide that information.
3. The headline touts "does not prevent", but this quote appears in the body of the article: "the rate of a sport-related concussions sustained by male and female players wearing specific headgear models varied a great deal. The authors found that the rate of these injuries ranged from 2.7% to 5.9% depending on the type of headgear worn by the players." (emphasis mine).
4. The original article provided rates per 1000 "Athletic Exposures (AE)", but didn't define that term. Some could have been 1 minute, some 80 minutes.

I found the article, so here's the full quote for point 3: "Overall, the SRC incidence ranged from 2.5% (HR: 0.54 (0.20–1.43), p=0.213) for players wearing the Storelli ExoShield to 5.4% (HR: 1.09 (0.62–1.91), p=0.765) for players wearing the Ultra Forcefield Sweatband." (emphasis mine)

In other words, the results for the random mix of head gear (each girl got to choose which of the 5 models in the study they wanted to wear) was "no difference from no head gear", but different models had different results. Not a very useful result, and does not, IMO, justify the claim of "does not prevent" without giving many qualifications that the study report does not present.

 

[OldSchooler]

These don't look so bad?

Yes!

I wish Ayanna (and Caroline, when she returns) would wear one. Doesn't look much different from a headband, which a lot of players wear. And maybe some good players who are not in concussion protocol would start wearing one, just as a statement.

How many years has it been, now, since helmets became required for batters, catchers, and even baserunners in baseball? Amateur boxers have long worn helmets, as do lacrosse players.

Once upon a time it was considered wimpish to wear a helmet in the NHL (although the college game was way ahead of the pros). And before Jacques Plante, even goalies wore no protection for their faces and heads.

I don't care if the men reject helmets. I think WCBB should have this on their agenda this off-season. Geno is often a leader in rules innovation. I hope he leads on this one.

 

[Longtime fan]

Dailey mentioned in a presser that the team had started doing neck exercises.
Strengthening the neck muscles can reduce concussions
Womens neck muscles can be weaker than mens.

I will yield to the experts, but I don't see how neck muscles help when you crack your head on the court after a fall. Your skull is still making violent contact with a rock-like surface. Unless, the is that you have better head control with a stronger neck, and can prevent it from smashing into the floor. Who knows? But I did read that women take far longer to recover from concussions than men. Caroline is evidence of that as well.

 

[sno-cat]

It would be really cool if CD wore a headband type concussion protector and the rest of the team wore one as a show of support- at least for a little while.

 

[sun]

You've got to watch this 0:36 video for the HITT-Shield Defender. They make 2mm & 4mm thick skull caps that dissipates 80% & 85% of impact forces.
Watch how it protects a guy's hand from being smashed by a 17 oz. hammer.

HittShield.com

the best bulletproof gear for ultimate security. Trusted by professionals worldwide. Browse HitShield’s collection now!

hittshield.com

 

[Gordo]

I previously posted this a few weeks back, since a thread was created specifically on headgear let me try again here.

View attachment 83903

This type certainly makes more sense. It's protective, yet not a weapon.

 

[Bigboote]

I will yield to the experts, but I don't see how neck muscles help when you crack your head on the court after a fall. Your skull is still making violent contact with a rock-like surface. Unless, the is that you have better head control with a stronger neck, and can prevent it from smashing into the floor. Who knows? But I did read that women take far longer to recover from concussions than men. Caroline is evidence of that as well.

Neck exercises may not help if you hit your head on the floor, but they help prevent hitting your head on the floor.

 

[Bigboote]

I have questions about this study.

1. They had 88 schools with girls teams and divided them in half. But they don't report the number of active athletes in each group. (But the original article did.)
2. Many soccer players sit out whole games, some play a few minutes in a game, so game+practice minutes could vary widely amongst the players. The rate of concussions per active minute would be a useful stat, and since they "used licensed medical professionals in the field to record the onset" they should have been able to provide that information.
3. The headline touts "does not prevent", but this quote appears in the body of the article: "the rate of a sport-related concussions sustained by male and female players wearing specific headgear models varied a great deal. The authors found that the rate of these injuries ranged from 2.7% to 5.9% depending on the type of headgear worn by the players." (emphasis mine).
4. The original article provided rates per 1000 "Athletic Exposures (AE)", but didn't define that term. Some could have been 1 minute, some 80 minutes.

I found the article, so here's the full quote for point 3: "Overall, the SRC incidence ranged from 2.5% (HR: 0.54 (0.20–1.43), p=0.213) for players wearing the Storelli ExoShield to 5.4% (HR: 1.09 (0.62–1.91), p=0.765) for players wearing the Ultra Forcefield Sweatband." (emphasis mine)

In other words, the results for the random mix of head gear (each girl got to choose which of the 5 models in the study they wanted to wear) was "no difference from no head gear", but different models had different results. Not a very useful result, and does not, IMO, justify the claim of "does not prevent" without giving many qualifications that the study report does not present.

Yep, the conclusions are only as good as the design of the experiment.

Also, not all head gear is the same. When I began high school we had these helmets with hard padding on the inside. By the time I graduated, a couple of kids who'd had head injuries got water helmets. That was like the difference between sleeping on the ground and on a water bed. That was 40 years ago, and helmets have gotten WAY better since then. I know some folks who have measured the deceleration of the head in different types of head protection, and it's quite significant and has led to new helmet designs.

 

[Vancat]

As someone noted on the mens board a bit ago, Jordan Hawkins seems to have learned recently to fall in a way that minimizes his head cracking the floor.

 

[CL82]

As someone noted on the mens board a bit ago, Jordan Hawkins seems to have learned recently to fall in a way that minimizes his head cracking the floor.

Head up, hands up, let the broad muscles of your back absorb the energy of the fall. The hands up part takes practice because all of us instinctively reach back to support ourselves.

 

[Linart]

Old fogey here. We are so fortunate to live in an age where protector headgear is at least an option. Back when I was young (OK-Boomer-eye-roll) none of us had ever even HEARD of a bike helmet and protective headgear for skiing consisted of a knit cap with a pom pom on top.

 

[mbr33ct]

Old fogey here. We are so fortunate to live in an age where protector headgear is at least an option. Back when I was young (OK-Boomer-eye-roll) none of us had ever even HEARD of a bike helmet and protective headgear for skiing consisted of a knit cap with a pom pom on top.

...and look how we turned out, we now reside on the Boneyard.

 

[CL82]

Old fogey here. We are so fortunate to live in an age where protector headgear is at least an option. Back when I was young (OK-Boomer-eye-roll) none of us had ever even HEARD of a bike helmet and protective headgear for skiing consisted of a knit cap with a pom pom on top.

True, and concussion protocol consisted of shaking your head until things stop spinning.

 

[Bigboote]

True, and concussion protocol consisted of shaking your head until things stop spinning.

You had it rough. I also got a sip of water too.

 

[JRRRJ]

Head up, hands up, let the broad muscles of your back absorb the energy of the fall. The hands up part takes practice because all of us instinctively reach back to support ourselves.

I learned in Tae Kwan Do class (and experienced it's effectiveness numerous times ;^) to slap the floor with both hands when falling backwards or forwards. The part that needed to be trained was not to bend the arms, to avoid elbow injury.

Interestingly, we weren't trained for falling laterally. That rarely occured in bouts anyhow. But a one-hand (the arm underneath) should have good effect, IMHO.

 

[Barkin Out]

...and look how we turned out, we now reside on the Boneyard.

Look Howe this guy turned out. 30 years from now, everyone will wonder what the hesitation is all about

 

[CL82]

I learned in Tae Kwan Do class (and experienced it's effectiveness numerous times ;^) to slap the floor with both hands when falling backwards or forwards. The part that needed to be trained was not to bend the arms, to avoid elbow injury.

Interestingly, we weren't trained for falling laterally. That rarely occured in bouts anyhow. But a one-hand (the arm underneath) should have good effect, IMHO.

Yep, but you weren’t trained to fall back on to your arms. You fall back onto the large muscles of your back and slap with both hands as you hit. Yes, the lateral fall does have you slapping with one hand.

(You were trained to slap the floor falling forward? Falling forward was always tuck and roll.)