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2012 Virginia Tech helmet ratings
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2012 Virginia Tech helmet ratings

For the past two years researchers at Virginia Tech have tested adult football helmets from various manufacturers in an effort to determine which model might best protect against concussions. The 2012 results of their newest study were released Tuesday.

As in 2011, "five stars," the highest rating awarded by the Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings™ system applies to helmets deemed to reduce the risk of concussion better than others. In addition to the Riddell Revolution Speed, which was the only helmet to receive five stars last year, the Rawlings Quantum Plus and Riddell 360 earned five stars this year as the best available helmets.

UConn team physician, Dr. Thomas Trojian, who was not involved in the study, welcomes the results of thttps://esearch, with caveats.

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"The STAR (Summation of Tests for the Analysis of Risk) value is the number of concussions that one player may experience through the duration of playing one complete season with a specific helmet. So, the lower the STAR value, the better the helmet at reducing the risk of concussion, and subsequently the higher ‘# stars’ in the rating system," he said.

"However, the STAR value is based on linear acceleration only," said Dr. Trojian. "Rotational acceleration plays a bigger role in concussions. Parents should be aware that this rating is for linear acceleration which is only a portion of the injury."

CNN's medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains the various forces -- some linear, some rotational -- involved in concussions. It is a complex injury.

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The process used for evaluating the head protector involves performing 120 impacts on each helmet model at multiple locations and impact energies. To date, the Virginihttps://Helmet Ratings™ for adult football include 15 helmet models that were evaluated using more than 2,000 laboratory tests. The ratings utilize the STAR Evaluation System was developed using data collected from over 1.8-million head impacts experienced by football players throughout an eight-year span.

"This is a perfect example of a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded project resulting in translational research. The NIH supported the development of the sensors and data collection that provided the foundation for our rating system. Specifically, you can see Riddell and Rawlings using this research to develop the very best helmets," said project director Stefan Duma, the Harry C. Wyatt Professor of Engineering and department head of the Virginia Tech -- Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences.

A total of five new adult football helmet models by Rawlings, Riddell, and Xenith have been released since the Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings™ were first made available in 2011. The Riddell 3https://tars), Rawlings Quantum Plus (5 stars), Rawlings Impulse (4 stars), and Rawlings Quantum (4 stars) were new models that are recommended by the researchttps://We recommend any of the four or five star helmets for players. The specific helmet a player chooses will be dependent on other factors such as a fit and comfort," said Duma. The remaining new helmet model included in the 2012 ratings was the Xenith X2, which earned a three-star rating.

Seven helmets are now rated with four stars in the 2012 Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings™: Schutt ION 4D, Schutt DNA Pro+, Rawlings Impulse, Xenith X1, Riddell Revolution, Rawlings Quantum, and Riddell Revolution IQ. The remaining five football helmet models were rated with three stars or less. The complete ratings are publicly available online so that consumers can make educated decisions when purchasing football helmets.

"The three lowest-rated helmets from last year are now all off the market. It is encouraging to see this positive shift towards better head protection," said Steven Rowson, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Virginia Tech. Rowson was responsible for the development of the STAR Evaluation System and testing of the helmets. "Four of the five new helmet models introduced in the last year earned a four- or five-star rating. This helps demonstrate that a data-driven approach can be utilized to optimize helmet design to reduce concussion risk," he said.

In the future, the researchers will expand the Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings™ to include other sports as well as youth football helmets. To this end, Duma and his team collected the first data set on head impacts experienced by youth football players last year. In the fall of 2012, researchers at Virginia Tech and Wake Forest will expand this data set by instrumenting over 300 youth football players from ages 6 to 18 in what is called the KIDS study (Kinematics of Impact Data Set). "As we learn more about youth head impact exposure, we can begin to develop methods to evaluate youth-specific helmet designs," Duma added.

The Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings are independent of any helmet manufacturer and utilized funding from private donations, the School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, and the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science. Detailed downloadable reports that outline the methodology and resulting data are available. As noted on the data sheets, any player may sustain a concussion with even the best equipment, Duma said.

For more information on the ratings, please contact Stefan Duma by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone https://231-8191.


The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is internationally recognized for its excellence in 14 engineering disciplines and computer science. The college's 6,000 undergraduates benefit from an innovative curriculum that provides a "hands-on, minds-on" approach to engineering education, complementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laboratories, the college offers its 2,000 graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engineering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nanotechnology. Virginia Tech, the most comprehensive university in Virginia, is dedicated to quality, innovation, and results to the commonwealth, the nation, and the world.

Source: Virginia Tech

Photo: Testing the various football helmets for their ability to reduce the risk of concussions, from left to right, are: Ray Daniel, doctoral candidate in the Virginia Tech -- Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (SBES); Steven Rowson, an assistant professor in SBES, and Stefan Duma, the Harry C. Wyatt Professor and department head of SBES. Credit: Virginia Tech

Questions/comments? contact Jean Rickerson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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