Headgear does little to guard customers from mind damage. In response to the Affiliation of Ringside Physicians “Headguards shouldn’t be relied upon to cut back the chance of concussion or different traumatic mind damage. They haven’t been proven to stop these kind of accidents in fight sports activities or different sports activities”
Including to this conclusion a examine was just lately printed displaying some headgear considerably elevated rotational acceleration to customers when struck with a simulated roundhouse kick.
Knockouts are most frequently seen following strikes inflicting rotational acceleration (consider the pinnacle whipping sideways after a hook or roundhouse kick). The current examine discovered that some headgear enhance such acceleration by up over 80%.
Within the examine, titled Comparability of dynamic parameters associated to go accidents utilizing 4 frequent kinds of business taekwondo headgear in a simulated protocol roundhouse kick, the authors measured kicking power from elite taekwondo athletes. They then simulated this power on headgear generally used within the sport measuring the outcomes with power and acceleration sensors. The authors discovered that a number of the headgear not solely failed to cut back rotational acceleration two of the examined merchandise elevated rotational acceleration (one by 57% one other by 85%).
Headgear doesn’t forestall concussions or CTE. The ABC’s Athletes Voice Committee has requested gear producers to print warnings on their merchandise noting these limitations. Hopefully the trade is ready to hear.
The complete summary reads as follows:
Background, Downside and Intention. Regardless of using 4 kinds of headgear in taekwondo. A excessive prevalence of head accidents has been reported in competitions. It is very important be certain that headgear can successfully scale back the parameters associated to go accidents. Nonetheless, headgear is normally evaluated solely based mostly in linear acceleration for the time being of collision and on an unreal competitors scenario. The aim of this examine is to analyze and evaluate some chosen dynamic parameters associated to go damage amongst 4 kinds of frequent taekwondo headgear in a simulated protocol.
Strategies. A tool included a man-made head outfitted with power and acceleration sensors and a lever arm to simulate roundhouse kick talent, was used. Earlier than testing the 4 kinds of headgear, the foot power of 15 taekwondo elite male athletes with a imply weight of 77.7 ± 6.27 Kg and peak of 182.1 ± 5.05 cm was obtained. The machine then delivered 10 impacts to the unreal head with and with out the 4 kinds of headgear. One-way repeated measures ANOVA and Bonferony had been used for statistical evaluation.
Outcomes. All 4 headgear decreased most impression power and most linear acceleration by greater than 80% (p< 0.01) as in comparison with no headgear situation. Moreover, headgear A (density 86 kg/m³, thickness 20 mm and mass 0.203 kg) and B (density 125 kg/m³, thickness 37 mm and mass 0.293 kg ) decreased most rotational acceleration about 7.47% and 23.6% respectively, whereas C (density 65 kg/m³, thickness 20 mm and mass 0.190 kg) and D (density 58 kg/m³, thickness 18 mm and mass 0.150 kg) elevated it by 57.8 and 85%, respectively, when in comparison with no headgear situation (p< 0.01). Headgear B with the very best thickness, density and mass has one of the best efficiency in lowering impression power, and linear and rotational accelerations (23.64%, 3555 rad/s²).
Conclusion. All Taekwondo headgear examined on this examine offered enough safety in opposition to accidents attributable to impression power and linear acceleration, however not in opposition to rotational acceleration. Solely headgear B decreased the rotational acceleration by about 24%.
