It’s called the STAR system, an anacronym for Summation of Tests for the Analysis of Risk.
It’s a sports helmet rating system devised by the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech University in the USA. The five-star rating was in development for some ten years to evaluate football helmets for their ability to reduce injury from concussions and released initial findings on those helmets in 2011.
Virginia Tech claims that as a result of their testing and rating system, manufacturers of football helmets have greatly improved their products in the past few years.
However at least one Canadian concussion expert, Dr Steve Echlin questions the methodology saying that the cause of injury is the brain moving against the skull. Speaking to a CBC reporter he said, “Trying to rate helmets and saying that it’s related to reduction in concussions, is very questionable.” He questions whether the tests relate to actual cause of concussion, the brain hitting the skull, “We don’t know that, and to try to sell this as a basis of a marketing of helmets, I think is very wrong”.
He also insists that in junior hockey leagues, enforcing non-contact play would be a big step toward reducing concussion injuries in children playing hockey
In Canada, only helmets tested and certified by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) are allowed, although they have not deemed any helmet as “concussion resistant”
The American university developed hockey helmet tests over three years and have just released their initial findings on 32 helmets on the market.
An interesting note is that no helmet received a five or even four star rating, but among the helmets, price was no guarantee of protection level, with one of the least expensive helmets providing better protection than many others at twice the price.
Stefan Duma, head of the university’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, is co-director of the study.
“Our focus is to improve the safety of the sport, and we have spent a great deal of time developing the methods and relaying these to the manufacturers so that they can optimize their designs,” Duma said. “Our hope is to see new helmets come into the market with improved performance.”
The university’s findings included:
- 1 helmet earned three stars, or “good” — the Warrior Krown 360 , actually one of the least expensive helmets.
- 6 helmets earned two stars or “adequate”.
- 16 helmets earned one star including the most expensive
- 9 helmets earned no star at all
The research article is published in the April issue of the science journal. Annals of Biomedical Engineering
Researchers tested each helmet in four directions at three energy levels twice — a total 48 tests per model. The entire evaluation process included more than 2,000 impact tests done both on an ice rink and inside a laboratory.
The tests included rotational impact, when the head is turned suddenly on impact, in addition to linear impact which is motion in the dirction of the impact. Concussion is more often related to rotational impact according to neurosurgeons.
The researchers say that hockey has a higher rate of concussion than football. They say that no helmet will protect completely from a concussion, but that better helmets lower brain acceleration which lowers injury risk.
They note that further tests on other sports helmets are to come.
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