I-Team: Many Tri-State Schools Use Football Helmets That Don’t Protect Well Against Concussions

By Pei-Sze Cheng and Gabrielle Ewing

When 16-year-old Tom Cutinella died after collapsing on the field following a collision during a football game at his Long Island high school, questions arose about concussions in sports and the safety of the children playing them.

While what happened to the Shoreham-Wading River High School student is extremely rare, research shows concussions in school sports are not uncommon

A survey of high school sports-related injuries compiled by researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health shows that football-related concussions are on the rise. In 2005, there were 55,007 reported concussions from football games and practice. By 2012, that number had more than tripled to 167,604.

“We tell our guys, we get anyone with a head injury, they are immediately out of it,” said Mike Carter, who oversees Bloomfield High school’s football program in New Jersey.

Football Helmet Safety Questioned at Tri-State Schools

With football-related concussions on the rise in high school sports, the I-Team set out to find out what kind of helmets schools in the tri-state use and how they measure in a ranking that evaluates the likeliness of football helmets to reduce concussion risk. Pei-Sze Cheng reports. (Published Monday, Nov 3, 2014)

Carter says his students wear some of the newest helmets available on the market. But the I-Team discovered that not all students at area schools have access to such equipment.

Over a period of two months, the I-Team asked about 200 schools in the tri-state area what kind of helmets they use and found many use helmets that received low marks in a Virginia Tech study that evaluates the likeliness of football helmets to reduce concussion risk.

To determine how well certain helmets absorb impact, Virginia Tech researchers placed them on a device and slammed them onto a steel block. Helmets were given one to five stars based on how well they absorbed impact — or how likely they would be to prevent concussions.

“The better the helmet, the better it cushions the impact and the more it lowers acceleration,” said Virginia Tech professor Stefan Duma, who helped author the study.

The VSR-4 helmet, for example, received only one star in the Virginia Tech study and was labeled as “marginal” in terms of its ability to reduce concussion risk. Riddell discontinued the helmet in May 2011.

“The game has since evolved significantly making room for major advancements in helmet technology,” Riddell said in a statement. “Riddell has programs in place to encourage those playing football to transition to new helmets that incorporate more advanced technology.”

Though Riddell’s VSR-4 was discontinued more than three years ago, Clifton High School in Clifton, New Jersey, lists mostly that helmet in its inventory, the I-Team found.

Clifton High School’s athletic director, Tom Mullahey, thanked the I-team for bringing the outdated helmet’s safety ranking to his attention and said the school purchased 26 new helmets for the team.

In a statement, Mullahey said, “This is the first we’ve heard of this study,” and that he ordered new helmets so that “every football player in our program is wearing a Revolution ( four stars) or Revolution Speed (five stars).”

Brentwood High School on Long Island, Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and Yonkers Public Schools in Westchester County also use one and two star helmets, the I-Team found. Among the Yonkers Public Schools, Yonkers Montessori Academy had the most low-star helmets.

Some of those schools stood by their helmet choices.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Football-Helmet-Safety-School-Concussion-Investigation-Injury-Death-281339821.html