Helmetless Football Drills Can Reduce Head Injuries, Study Says

DURHAM, N.H. (CBS) — A new study that takes a counter-intuitive approach to decreasing head injuries in football has yielded some surprising results. Researchers in the study by the National Athletic Trainer’s Association divided 50 University of New Hampshire football players into two groups – one that participated in tackling drills throughout the season with helmets, and one without. Read The Study (PDF)  The results showed a 28 percent decrease in head impacts during practices and games among those who trained helmetless. “Given proper training, education and instruction, college football players can safely perform supervised tackling and blocking drills in practice without helmets,” lead study author Erik E. Swartz said in a statement. RELATED: Blood Test Could Make Identifying Concussion A Lot Easier Football players at the high school and college levels absorb over 1,000 impacts per season, according to the study. Helmets provide protection, but can also offer a false sense of security. “A football helmet is designed to protect players from traumatic head injury, but it also enables them to initiate and sustain head impacts because of the protection it affords,” the study says. The study authors believe that helmetless training would cut down on the number of football-related head and neck injuries.
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Local News Syndicated Local Football Helmets Source Type: news