Eubanks 1

Jessica Eubanks
Padgett
ENGL 102 sec 27
27 October 2016
Redefining the Standards on High School Football Helmets:
An Annotated Bibliography
Inquiry: Do NOCSAE certified football helmets reduce or show a decrease in the number of
concussions sustained by high school football players, as compared to non-certified football
helmets?
Proposed Thesis: NOCSAE certified football helmets are designed to help decrease the number
of concussions sustained by high school football players, but some sources propose the idea that
NOCSAE football helmets are being over rated and in fact have the same concussion rates as
non-certified helmets.
Introduction:
NOCSAE or the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment was
founded in 1969 to aid in the reduction of athletic injuries and deaths experienced on the field
during play. NOCSAE sets standards by which athletic equipment, such as football helmets, are
tested against to ensure maximum safety. They also do further research to improve standards as
new developments in technology and athletic equipment is created. Most high schools require the
use of NOCSAE certified helmets by all football players. However, these helmets can be
extremely costly and some schools just cannot afford them. Numerous studies and countless
hours of research have been completed to determine if in fact NOCSAE certified helmets are
safer and are the cause of less injuries than non-certified helmets.
Armour, Nancy. "Profiting From Fear?" USA Today: Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Sept.
2016.
Are manufacturing companies of football helmets over stating the safety of their products
to gain higher profits? Nancy Armour of USA Today seems to think athletic equipment
companies are profiting mainly off the fear of the athletes parents (par 2). All
manufacturing companies claim their products are among the safest and can reduce the
persistence of injuries sustained. However, Armour claims, there's no one to verify that
those statements, and many others, are true (par. 3). Unfortunately, there is no one piece
of athletic equipment that can completely eliminate the possible cause of injuries. Parents
of athletes are overly concerned about the safety of their children while they are playing a
sport. Large manufacturing companies take advantage of that parents intuition by
claiming their products are the safest and cause the least amount of injuries. However, on
each companies website there are warnings and risks that accompany each piece of
athletic equipment. In contrast to the numerous claimed benefits documented for each

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article of athletic equipment, the risks are less pronounced and much fewer risks are even
noted (par 5). Armour suggests that since there is no organized committee like the FDA,
but for athletic equipment, to watch over standards and new developments,
manufacturing companies almost have free range to sale and market their products (par.
4). This raises questions of the validity and actual safety of these products produced by
major companies. Are these products really safer, or are these companies just trying to
make a profit off of concerned and vulnerable parents?
Collins, Christy L., et al. "Concussion Characteristics In High School Football By Helmet
Age/Recondition Status, Manufacturer, And Model." American Journal Of Sports
Medicine, 44.6 (2016): 1382-1390. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
Although there will never be a certain preventative measure against concussions, there
may be a way to predict the symptoms that will follow a concussion based on the helmet
worn by an athlete (page 1383). Even though, helmets are designed and manufactured
differently they should all meet NOCSAE requirements and ensure the safety of football
players. Collins et al did a study [t]o investigate whether high school football concussion
characteristics varied by helmet age/recondition status, manufacturer, and model (1382).
Collins et al wanted to determine if the symptoms of a concussion can be predicted and if
they are different based on the helmet the athlete wears. Despite differences in the
manufacturers and models of helmets worn by all high school football players compared
with players who sustained a concussion, the mean number of concussion symptoms,
specific concussion symptoms, symptom resolution time, and time until return to play
were similar for concussions sustained by football players wearing the most common
helmet manufacturers and models (1382). This study shows that even helmets not
certified by NOCSAE can cause the same number of concussions as those helmets
certified by NOCSAE. Another conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that there
is no way to predict the symptoms that will accompany a concussion. Each concussion is
different depending on the force of the hit and individual athletic characteristics.
However, this study did show that among the most popular helmets produced there is not
a significant difference in their concussion rates.
Gary, Mihoces. "Helmets Not Made Equal." USA Today: Academic Search Complete. Web. 29
Sept. 2016.
Like a driver's test or legal bar exam, the testing system that decides whether football
helmets meet the national safety standard is pass/fail (par 1). Football manufacturing
companies use a simple star rating scale to show the safety of their helmets. Unlike
football helmet manufacturers, NOCSAE tests helmets on a numerical score scale.
NOCSAE claims the simplistic characteristics of the star rating scale used by helmet
manufacturers can mislead consumers and wrongly falsifies the safety and reliability of
their helmets (par 4). These manufacturers are not allowed to flaunt their own personal
ratings since they do not align with NOCSAE standards, run the possibility of being nonreliable and invalid and could show potential bias. The bias shown by the manufacturers
could be falsified and could in fact cause more harm than good. Consumers may believe
the helmets are safer than they actually are and this could lead to a misconception about
the helmets. I believe having an independent group, like NOCSAE, is essential for

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establishing athletic equipment standards. This will ensure a standardized and generalized
set of rules that will be followed by all manufacturing companies. Which, in turn, will
help eliminate producer bias and ensure the validity, safety and reliability of all football
helmets produced.
Jadischke, Ron, et al. "The Effects Of Helmet Weight On Hybrid III Head And Neck Responses
By Comparing Unhelmeted And Helmeted Impacts." Journal Of Biomechanical
Engineering, 138.10 (2016): 1-10. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
With new developments in technology for football helmets and new add-ons surfacing,
the weight of football helmets has been in question. Could the weight of football helmets
have an impact on the number of concussions sustained by high school football players?
Jadischke et al explored the effects of helmet weight and the prevalence of concussions
sustained. Before this study, no one had studied the effects of helmet mass. With all the
padding and add-on features for helmets, the mass of helmets has increased drastically
overtime. Jadischke et al tested numerous helmets with varying weight and different
acceleration forces. The increased neck forces provide a possible explanation as to why
there has not been a corresponding reduction in concussion rates despite improvements in
helmets ability to reduce head accelerations (page 1). This study helps show another
possible cause for concussion rates not declining. The helmets may not be the problem,
but the force behind the hits or the mechanics of the hit could be a possible cause. To
correct bad hitting mechanics, coaches should teach their players how to hit correctly and
how to avoid head to head hits. If coaches spent more time teaching correct and safe
hitting mechanics, the numbers of concussions sustained by football athletes could see a
decrease.
McGuine, Timothy A., et al. "Protective Equipment And Player Characteristics Associated With
The Incidence Of Sport-Related Concussion In High School Football Players: A
Multifactorial Prospective Study." American Journal Of Sports Medicine, 42.10 (2014):
2470-2478. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
There have been many studies and numerous hours of research done on concussion risk,
but none have been completed on football player characteristics and other protective
equipment, such as a mouth guard. McGuine et al wanted to determine the effects of
wearing a custom fit mouth guard on concussion rate of the athlete. The group not only
used different brands and types of mouth guards, but they also used different football
helmets as well. Results showed that the concussion rate between each brand of helmet
showed no significance. However, the concussion rate was higher in the athletes who
wore a custom mouth guard. This research shows that there are other outside factors that
can lead to the increase of concussions sustained. Sports medicine providers who work
with high school football players need to realize that factors other than the type of
protective equipment worn affect the risk of [concussions] in high school players (page
2470). McGuine et al discovered that there is much more than just the athletic
equipment that causes concussions to occur. This study also showed that all the helmets
used in the study showed similar concussion rates, thus providing evidence that certified
helmets may not in fact be safer than non-certified helmets.

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Schwarz, Alan. "As Concussions Rise, Scant Oversight for Football Helmet Safety." The New
York Times: Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
Head injuries, like concussions, are always going to be a possible outcome of every hit
administered in football. There is no way to eliminate this risk all together even with all
the new developments in technology surrounding athletic equipment. Parents of football
players must come to understand that even though a helmet may be certified by NOCSAE
that does not completely eliminate the risk of their child receiving a concussion. The New
York Times claims football helmets have never been tested on the causes of concussions.
The industry, which receives no governmental or other independent oversight, requires
helmets for players of all ages to withstand only the extremely high-level force that
would otherwise fracture skulls (par 4). The limitations on football helmet standards
could be a result of the lack of research done to determine the causes and forces required
to produce a concussion. More than 100,000 children are wearing helmets too old to
provide adequate protection -- and perhaps half a million more are wearing potentially
unsafe helmets that require critical examination (par. 6).With the standards on football
helmets not changing drastically since the existence of NOCSAE, there is no way of
determining and ensuring the safety of newly developed and produced helmets. I believe
helmets that have been previously certified should be reexamined under new and
improved standards. NOCSAE needs to complete more research and reevaluate their
standards to ensure the helmets they certify are in fact safe and cause fewer concussions
than other helmets.
Schwarz, Alan. "Researchers Employ New Test to Estimate Concussion Risk for Helmets." The
New York Times: Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
Yet again, notable football helmets are being called into question for their higher rate of
concussions sustained by football players. The only standardized test on helmets today
assesses whether a helmet might allow a skull fracture, not a less serious injury like a
concussion (par 5). The study completed at Virginia Tech concluded that two football
helmets still worn by high school and college football players ranked at the bottom for
their high rates of sustained concussions (par 2). There are limitations to the study
conducted at Virginia Tech since they only tested the helmets in certain planes of motion.
However, since the publication of this study the Virginia Tech football team has vowed to
get newer helmets to help decrease the number of concussions sustained by players on
their football team. The helmets manufacturers stated that this study is not reliable
because it is hard to test hits sustained on the field in a lab setting there by making the
external validity of the study low. Due to ethical considerations, it is hard to test real life
hits on actual football players. With these considerations in mind, will it ever be possible
to determine the cause of concussions and which helmet is the safest to wear while
playing football?

Schwarz, Alan. "Safety Commission to Push Stronger Helmet Standards." The New York Times:
Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.

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Over the past couple of years, there has been an increase in the call for standards on
athletic equipment to be revised and improved. The chairwoman of the Consumer
Products Safety Commission told a Senate subcommittee that the agency would 'monitor
and accelerate' the development of stronger standards for headgear, particularly among
children (par 1). She argued that NOCSAE had not changed their standards in decades
and that the standards primary focus is on skull fractures and not concussions, which are
more prevalent than skull fractures. This raises suspicion in the actual safety and
reliability of the standards set out by NOCSAE. A representative from NOCSAE
commented that the science behind the cause of concussions was ...all over the place
and no clear cause could be determined at that time (par 6). Athletic equipment
manufacturers are being encouraged to improve their own standards rather than wait on a
new set of improved standards to be released. This can lead to several different and
inconsistent standards on athletic equipment which may cause more harm to the overall
standards and safety of athletic equipment than good. Some may conclude that since
NOCSAE is under such scrutiny to improve their standards, their current standards must
be invalid and not reliable. As a result, all previously certified football helmets should be
reexamined under new and improved standards.