Setting up this play is the NFL’s executive vice president of health and safety policy, Jeff Miller.
In late March at a gathering of team owners, Miller and the chairman of the NFL’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee, Dr. Jeff Crandall, discussed the league’s pursuit of posi- tion-specific helmets with members of the media. Dr. Crandall emphasized that the first step is to design and test sensors to measure impacts, as the needs of linemen and skill position players require different consideration. Linemen, on average, experience far more head-to- head contact while skill position players are more likely to suffer injuries like con- cussions incurred by high-speed body-to- head impacts. While Crandall sees the science being “a few years away,” companies like Seattle’s VICIS, an American sports equip- ment start-up, have already invested millions in research and development on safer football helmets. The multi-lay- ered ZERO 1 helmet is designed to decrease the rever- berating effects of blunt force impacts and collisions from multiple angles. Football fans can anticipate seeing their favourite NCAA football stars sporting the ZERO 1 throughout spring practice in 2017.
By David MacDonald I n an America where Bill Bye the Science Guy and Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson seem to be on the defensive on behalf of science and the scientific community on every podcast, talk show, and newscast imaginable, it’s encour- aging to see that an American institution like the National Football League has joined the fight to mainstream science and its merits.
This summer, twenty-five NFL teams are expected to put the ZERO 1 through its toughest trials to date in training camp.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • MAY 2017
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