NECK COLLAR PREVENTS HEAD INJURIES (Orthopedics This Week)
"Go Beyond the Helmet"
The hazards to players of football and other contact sports, such as hockey, come not just from external blows to the head—partially mediated by a helmet—but from blows of less velocity that cause the brain to bounce back and forth within the skull. “Brain slosh” is what happens when the brain, which is loose in the skull, bounces around in response to a hit. A study conducted at Boston University suggests that the hundreds of minor hits experienced by players pose a greater long-term risk than do concussions.
Stephen Feller, writing for UPI, reports that players living at higher altitudes have less brain movement from a blow because of their higher cerebral blood flow, which cuts down on injuries. Researchers took a lesson from woodpeckers which have head impacts with trees 20 times greater than anything experienced by pro football players.
Woodpeckers protect their brains by wrapping their tongues around the top of their heads, which provides pressure against their vascular veins, which in turn increases blood pressure to their bird brains and prevents sloshing.
Copying the woodpeckers, researchers ...
