Can hockey helmets be safer? Western researchers 'check' the issue head on
A player skates up the ice with the puck, precision focus on their goal, they don’t see the body check coming from the side and suddenly they’re laying on the ice suffering a possible concussion due to an indirect blow to the head.
This is an all too real scenario in hockey games, one that many Canadians are familiar with, and while helmet technology has improved leaps and bounds it could still be possible to make them safer.
A team of researchers at Western University has been researching how to make helmets safer and sharing those results with Bauer Hockey in the hopes of designing better headgear.
The engineering team led by Canada Research Chair Haojie Mao put a simulated brain through numerous tests and ultimately found that current helmet technology is good at absorbing direct hits.
But what of indirect hits?
Simulating 672 different impact scenarios the team found that rotational velocity was the most common factor when brain strain (twisting or wrenching brain tissue beyond its limits) occurred.
The resulting problem is torque, meaning a movement twist on impact, and could lead to a mild traumatic brain injury.
The team published their findings in the journal Annals of Biomedical Engineering.
The hopes are that the results can help influence future designs of helmets, specifically using brain injury metrics.
More than 69-million people experience a mild traumatic brain injury per year.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Made-in-Newfoundland vodka claims top prize at worldwide competition
A Newfoundland-made vodka has been named one of the world’s best by judges at this year’s World Vodka Awards.