Helmets record hits to football players’ heads

A former football player himself, Kody Campbell is now studying how these athletes sustain hits to the head during the Canadian game. Canadian football is not soccer, but a game more like the British rugby where players tackle each other often. It is also has different rules and a larger field that does American football.

A device the size of a domino was developed in Markham in the province of Ontario and, when placed in the helmet, records head impacts. The device can then be hooked up to a computer and the information uploaded for Campbell to analyse.

Players co-operative, curious

“The goal of my research is to measure how many hits, how big they are and where they’re happening to the football players’ heads as they compete for the duration of a Canadian football season,” says the masters student at Western University in London, Ontario.

Players on the university’s Mustangs football team are happy to co-operate and will often go to Campbell saying they sustained a big hit and ask what it looked like on the computer.

Does position make a difference?

Campbell wants to find out if players in certain strategic positions are more likely to be hit, and how his statistics compare to similar ones collected in the United States. So far he thinks offensive line-backers are more likely to give and get hits to the head.

“The thing about head injury is that there’s a lot to learn about it and if I can add just a little piece of information to answer a specific question about head injuries then I’m very happy to be able to do that,” says Campbell. He hopes to publish his study in a peer-reviewed magazine once the work is completed.