![]() ![]() A study led by Bottlang and Madey found that WaveCel outperformed MIPS for the type of head impacts caused by falls. The WaveCel liner can be found in several big-brand sports helmets.Īn independent study found that bike helmets with either WaveCel or MIPS technology were better than conventional helmets at reducing rotational force. "The honeycomb structure is a very light, breathable material that is not only good at absorbing linear force, but also breaks that spin the way sand would," Madey says. So Madey and Bottlang developed a helmet liner made from a special plastic honeycomb designed to act like sand. "If you throw a ball into a sandpit, the sand gives underneath, it doesn't impart spin to the ball," Madey says. "It will hit the ground, it'll have friction and it'll create spin." The ball doesn't just bounce, Madey says. Their inspiration came from observing what happens to a ball when it strikes the ground at an angle, the way a biker's head often does in a crash. Madey and Bottlang initially founded WaveCel to make better sports helmets. "But if they're not optimized to decrease the spin, they're not optimized to prevent injury." A helmet that works like sand "They do a job at reducing force, so they serve a purpose," Madey says. But experiments show that if you spin one hard enough, the yolk inside will rupture even though the shell remains intact. You can shake an egg forcefully without disrupting the contents. The reason is that the brain is a bit like an egg yolk - a soft capsule surrounded by liquid, and contained inside a hard shell. But traditional hard hats aren't so good when the impact comes at an angle. This design is good at protecting the brain from direct hit, say a hammer dropped by a worker two stories up. Some models include foam padding on the sides and a chin strap. "But the construction workers I saw biking home today were wearing hard hats that are very similar to what I saw 10 to 15 years ago," he says.Ī typical hard hat consists of a plastic outer shell with an inner suspension system made from webbing. ![]() Lucke-Wold, who often treats patients with brain injuries, wears a state-of-the art bike helmet during his daily commute. One reason workplace brain injuries are so common is that hard hats - unlike sports helmets - haven't changed much since their invention a century ago. Falls, which often cause the head to turn or tip suddenly, are the most frequent cause. Understanding workplace concussionsĪbout one-fourth of all concussions among adults occur on the job, especially at construction sites. Brandon Lucke-Wold, a neurosurgeon at the University of Florida who has no ties to the helmet industry. Upgraded helmets like these, "are keeping the brain more stationary, and that has a lot of potential benefit," says Dr. MIPS, a Swedish company, offers a competing technology to protect a worker's brain from sudden rotation. "Unfortunately, today's most frequently used hard hats look identical to the ones from the '60s," Bottlang says. #Upgrade thebrain updateThe WaveCel hard hat is just the latest effort to update the products, known as industrial safety helmets, which brain injury experts say are overdue for an upgrade. It's made and sold by WaveCel, a company the two men founded to make safer bike helmets. Steven Madey, an orthopedic surgeon in Portland, have developed a hard hat intended to absorb rotational force. For example, he says, a boxer will "drop like a fly" from a punch to the chin that causes the head to turn rapidly. "The human brain is readily injured by a rotational force," says Michael Bottlang, director of the Legacy Biomechanics Lab in Portland, Ore. These hard hats incorporate technology that not only protects the head from a direct impact, but also from a glancing blow that causes the head to rotate suddenly – a major cause of concussions. But newer technology does a better job at protecting brains, especially from oblique impact caused by falls.Ī new generation of hard hats is promising better protection against on-the-job concussions, also known as mild traumatic brain injuries. Workers typically rely on plastic hard hat styles designed in the 1960s. ![]()
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