January 10, 2025
Concussions are a big problem in football. But sports technology is evolving to prevent these life-altering head injuries, and now that sports technology has come to UBC.
Football has a big problem — concussions. While some of the sport’s biggest organizations initially dismissed or ignored their severity, namely the NFL, modern research has made the implications clear.
The repeated head trauma the vast majority of football players endure often has long-lasting consequences, with many severe symptoms such as a loss of judgement or memory loss not becoming evident until up to 10 years after a player’s career has concluded.
According to Dr. Shelina Babul, a clinical professor in UBC’s Faculty of Medicine and director of the BC Injury Research & Prevention Unit at BC Children’s Hospital, the reason head injuries are uniquely problematic is due to the importance of the brain.
“Your brain is a vital and fragile organ and is your information highway for your daily living and quality of life,” she wrote in a statement to The Ubyssey. “It controls everything you do from walking, talking, seeing, hearing, etc. and [is] the only organ that can’t be transplanted. Therefore, every effort needs to be made to minimize any potential concussion or TBI.”
Yet, TBIs, which stands for traumatic brain injuries, and mild TBIs (mTBIs) are an unavoidable part of a sport that is built with intense contact in mind.
“Typically, concussions and mTBIs occur during a head-to-head, head-to-ground collision or collision of the body, resulting in an acceleration/deceleration/rotation of the brain inside the skull (typical to a whiplash motion),” wrote Babul.
To make matters worse, these impacts add up. More than 300 former NFL players have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) after their deaths, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated injuries to the brain such as concussions.
In the worst stages, CTE can lead to depression, dementia and suicidal ideation. Many players who prominently struggled with their mental health — like Dave Duerson and Junior Seau — after their careers were later diagnosed with CTE.
Given the severe consequences TBIs can have on a player’s health, finding ways to limit or prevent them has become a key movement for the sport as a whole. One of the technologies at the forefront of this movement is a new piece of equipment that has started to pick up traction in nearly all levels of football — the Guardian Cap.
Created in 2010, the Cap is a soft, padded shell that can be added to any helmet, aiming to absorb some of the impact from the repeated hits a player would take throughout a game. In 2023, the NFL reported a 52 percent decrease in concussions by players who have worn them compared to their non-wearing counterparts.
Babul wrote Guardian Caps are just one of many technologies she is seeing emerge in the field of concussion prevention and treatment. Although they minimize the severity of concussions, it’s not a “one-size-fits-all” solution. Like most injuries, no two are the same.
“The idea behind [the Guardian Cap] is to mitigate/minimize the severity of injury by absorbing the energy on impact as opposed to direct impact to the head,” she wrote. “There’s no such thing as a concussion-proof helmet, but the idea is to minimize the extent of injury by absorbing and dispersing the energy.”
While the NFL has been using the caps in practices since 2015, it wasn’t until this year that it began to allow in-game use. Even with those restrictions lifted, players have still hesitated to adopt the technology, often complaining of discomfort while wearing the caps or simply disliking their unconventional appearance.
But at UBC, the caps have been gaining some traction, with Thunderbirds head football coach Blake Nill noting their increasing popularity with players.
“We’re finding that more and more of our athletes want that added security,” he said. “It’s not a mandatory thing, but they are available. When athletes ask my opinion of them, I speak very positively for the use of them.”
When asked about whether potential style or comfort concerns could hinder the increased usage of the caps, Nill envisioned a gradual normalization of their use.
“As the players become more comfortable and it becomes more of a norm, I think there’s the potential for them becoming just part of what the equipment is.”
However, while Nill advocated using the technology, he also emphasized it’s not the only way to prevent concussions. As a coach, he and his staff have an important role to play as well.
“You’ll see that at UBC the physicality of practice has changed over the years,” he said. “You just see less contact in practice and when there is contact, it’s in designated areas … I think the coaching fraternity over the last decade and a half has done a better job making sure that all players understand the tempo of various periods in practice.”
The fact of the matter is, barring a radical rule change, head contact and football are inextricably linked. While Guardian Caps or an altered practice structure limit the damage these hits impose, they aren’t a full solution. Yet, it’s important to recognize how far the sport has come — and, according to Babul, how far it might go in the future.
“Technology is advancing rapidly and through these new advancements, including artificial intelligence and virtual reality, I think we will be better equipped to identify concussions among players while playing the game they love and providing the right support and guidance to a full recovery.”