Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4687 ..

6 Head and neck protection

_______________________________________________________________________

6.1 Head protection

The role of a helmet is to absorb the forces and decelerate the blow at the point of impact, distribute the focal impact over a larger area, withstand surface abrasion and to protect the bone and soft tissue from injury (for instance, lacerations). There are a number of potential risks of inappropriate helmet use in football. An ineffective helmet may provide the wearer with a false sense of security, and hence not prevent the damage for which it is presumably worn.

Helmets thus must be sport-specific to be effective. The demands of an individual sport must be researched and then an appropriate helmet configuration, shock-absorbing material and outer surface must be constructed.

The use of helmets increases the size and mass of the head. This may result in an increase in brain injury by a number of mechanisms. Blows that would have been glancing become more solid and thus transmit increased rotational force to the brain. These forces result in shearing stresses on neurones which may result in concussion and other forms of brain injury. Poorly designed helmets may obscure peripheral vision.

6.1.1 Protective head gear in football

The use of protective head gear in sport has attracted a considerable degree of interest in the sports medicine literature. Helmets of different types and qualities have been developed for athletes engaged in sports as diverse as American football, ice hockey, baseball, boxing, alpine skiing, cycling and motor sports. Some sports, such as American football (gridiron), require helmets with face masks in order to protect the facial area and teeth. In Australia, the various codes of football make no requirement that participating athletes wear helmets. Concern has been raised, especially by parents of children participating in contact sport, of the value of introducing helmets as a vehicle for increasing safety in those sports. The paucity of evidence related to the use of helmets in the various codes of football played in this country makes analysis of the risks and benefits of helmet use difficult. Information must be extrapolated from the more general application of helmet design as it is applied to other sports.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .