Medichef

Plus, football helmets are smooth, round without exterior center channels/grooves that can get caught on anything to cause the player's head to be rotated

Color! LOL!

More important than any rating system and/or having the "best" in the test.....is a properly fitted helmet. As long as it's not a bottom-of-the-line HARD foam helmet, a helmet that adjusted, so that the cage actually contacts the hooks on the side with a slight space under the chin cup (even with a mouthpiece), front-to-rear adjusted and circumference around the head adjusted, so that when strapped and the cage is held, that your head should only shift ever so slightly. Typical example, those players you see with cages that are swinging or the one whose helmet comes down slightly over their eyes...........yeah, that's wrong. I bought My GIRLS Re-Akts (was really looking at some mid-level IMS), but because they play with their hair in a ponytail and the IMS's have only an adjustable circumference, when I held the cage, up and down was fine, but side-to-side had excessive movement. The Re-Akt with the occipital lock at the rear that adjusts to the occipital bone at the back of the skull, it literally locks the helmet from front-back movement. GREAT helmet and cool, too. But, if you don't want it..................

Well, I am a medic and this is about brain injury! Just trying to get people to understand that hydration plays a huge part of it

Actually, that's not true......fluid for cushioning (as in hydration and cerebrospinal fluid) and integrity of the organ itself.

Like that only with complete coverage of the helmet like military helmet covers. And a strapping system to maybe the ear loops, so that they wouldn't constantly need replacement or readjustment.

I'm probably going to suggest a simple million dollar idea here that actually might be very simple to implement: you know how travel teams have shells for the hockey pants? You know, a second pair of thin pants made out of the same material as warm ups without the lining to be worn over the regular hockey pants, so the team is uniform without having everyone buying new pants? How about shells made out of something like Lycra to fit over the helmet? Could be personalized for the teams, inexpensive to produce, but more importantly....provides that slippery surface to the helmet that I was previously talking about to ANY helmet! It would lessen the rotational contribution to the concussion potential. Kinda like applying a layer of grease to the helmet! If one of you takes this idea to fruition, I would appreciate a mention!.....and maybe 25% !!!

Thanks for the response! I'd say externally. The Re-Akt's already have the separate suspension and padding, so that they can move slightly from each other. But my thought is if the exterior of the shell were more slippery there would be less friction to cause the head to rotate by diverting it. As for the ponytails: they do braid low (outside the helmet) and tie at the end. But the Bauer IMS has only a headband to size the helmet and it was very loose on their heads because it was tightening on the mass of hair on the rear. Even with everything fitted correctly I could grab the cage and they were able to move their heads significantly. With the Re-Akt Occipital lock (pad ratchets up under the bone at the base of your skull) there is very little movement.

Hi guys! I have to confess that I didn't read completely through ALL these pages, but I came here after Googling "validity of Virginia Tech hockey helmet testing" because I had the same concerns as you. As a father of 2 GIRLS moving into Peewee and Bantam travel this coming season I am concerned about their gear. But that doesn't mean I haven't considered all the factors involved. After one weekend where 2 of their teammates suffered concussions in separate incidents, I decided it was time to upgrade their helmets since they're showing a definite devotion to the game and that they were still wearing the $49 Bauer 4500 entry level buckets. I went to buy an IMS, but the fit was very loose because of the way they ponytail their hair and the helmet only provides a ratcheting headband for fit. The Re-Akt with it's occipital lock fit like a glove. That was the ticket for us. But as a paramedic, I know that no matter what the shell is made of and what kind of cushioning is inside, that MAY NOT affect the energy translated to INSIDE their skulls. The old "try to protect an egg from breaking" experiment comes to mind, but that only deals with the shell breaking (skull fracture). The brain itself can suffer coup contrecoup ("shaken baby syndrome") (bruising/injury from impacting the skull inside after being bounced around). And silly things like amount of hydration play large factors into the outcome of an impact. Personally, not to sound glib, I believe one way to lessen the rotation contribution to the incident....make the shell slippery.