February 19, 2025
LOWCOUNTRY, S.C. (WCIV) — A new study shows that sports equipment meant to keep athletes safe on the field could be less effective than previously thought.
According to medical professional Dr. David Geier, guardian caps worn by football players have proven to not prevent concussions in high school athletes in particular.
“I’ve always been suspicious that they don’t do that much,” said Geier in an interview on “Good Morning Charleston”. “Guardian caps are these soft coverings that teams are putting over their helmets that, in theory, decrease the forces to a player in a tackle or a block.”
He states that previous studies show that in lab testing, the guardian caps may decrease the risk of injury, but there is skepticism surrounding the findings. This new research however is the first study that focuses on high school athletes utilizing the equipment.
“This is the first study looking at that at the high school level, and it showed that it made no difference in decreasing concussions,” Geier said. “Its a double edged sword… the NFL wants to make it look like football is safer than it is. I love the sport of football but there is no way to make it completely safe.”
Geier states that the guardian caps could potentially create a false sense of security for both players and parents.
To explain it simply, Geier says you can compare the brain to an egg yolk inside of an egg shell.
“If you think of the brain as a yolk inside the egg shell, you may prevent the shell from breaking but you are not preventing that yolk from sliding around inside the shell and slamming into the side of it. That is where the concussion happens. The brain sliding around inside the skull and having a blow that way,” he said.
Though researchers have not found a way to mitigate the force players feel on impact when playing, Geier theorizes that it may be a more worthwhile venture to find ways to decrease those impacts to begin with.
“Where I really feel strongly is that when kids brains are still developing, certainly up to 12, some say up to 14, they shouldn’t be doing tackle football at all. At least let them wait until high school when the brain is more fully developed before taking these blows that can potentially affect the brains development.”