IMPACT

INSTALLATION, 2015

VARIOUS (IE AND US)

Head injuries can happen playing most sports, but some sports pose a higher risk. Sports-related concussions to athletes are a controversial issue at professional and amateur levels, as are the potential long-term effects. What’s more, new research is beginning to show that the effects of smaller impacts, not severe enough to cause concussion, can build up over time and may also cause neurological problems later in life.

The best way to prevent injuries is to limit the number of head impacts that happen during a game. In some sports, however, helmets are used to absorb the impact and reduce the risk of injury. IMPACT explores the latest research informing the design and use of helmets in high-impact sports, such as American football, rugby, hurling and camogie.

At Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Stefan Duma and his team used real-time sensors in field studies and laboratory tests to develop a five-star rating system to track and grade commercially sold helmets to encourage better helmet design. At Institute of Technology Tallaght, Stephen Tiernan has been testing how hurling helmets hold up to impact, as well as taking a 3D modelling approach to measuring the effects on the athlete. At Trinity College Dublin, Ciaran Simms is also using 3D modelling and analysis of video footage to study how the body responds to the high-force impacts of rugby.

BIO:

IMPACT is made possible by Stefan Duma, Abi Tyson, Craig McNally and all the team at Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University Center for Injury Biomechanics, Stephen Tiernan in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Institute of Technology Tallaght, Ciaran Simms in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, and Caroline Duggan in the Department of Sport and Recreation at Trinity College Dublin.