7
Artificially Increasing the Neck Diameter
No other helmet offers neck support and yet "well over half of catastrophic injuries in sports are cervical spine injuries" (Sama, Goldstein, para. 2). At Warrior Tough, we couldn't ignore the fact that "increased neck strength has been shown to be a predictor of concussion rate" (Toninato, Casey, Uppal, Abdallah, Bergman, Eckner, & Samadani, 2018, p. 102). While artificially increasing the neck diameter doesn't strengthen the neck itself, it does reinforce the neck and it effects how force acts upon the neck.
This is important because Stanford research shows that researchers thought neck muscles could affect head acceleration but what they found was that "...in shorter-duration impacts, the neck muscles are not doing a whole lot" (Kubota, 2018, para. 7). These findings suggests that head and neck positioning are what affects concussion risk. The problem is when the head snaps backwards the kinetic force has exceeded the neck strength.
Reinforcing the neck with padding is a patented feature of the Warrior Tough Concussion Counterpunch helmet. The head and neck linking padding are designed to help the athlete take and keep proper head and neck posture to reduce concussion potential. When an athlete braces, the support padding alters how force impacts the head and neck. Strengthening your neck is an important part of training in combat sports with the Warrior Tough Concussion Counterpunch helmets providing reinforcement for your neck. This reinforcement changes how impact forces act on your head and neck to help prevent risk of injury.
Figure A
According to Collins, Fletcher, Fields, Kluchurosky, Rohrkemper, Comstock, and Cantu (2014), "for every one-pound increase in neck strength, the odds of concussion decrease by 5%" (p. 309)
Coaches have long emphasized neck exercises and it should not be forgotten. The head and neck linking system of the Warrior Tough Concussion Counterpunch helmet provides another method to help athletes reduce concussion potential by reinforcing the neck to improve safety while training.
2" Thick Support Padding
Extra Thick Padding
In Figure B, the x-ray view displays the lower part of the helmet around the head and neck- highlighting the additional support. What's interesting is that the ample padding intended to safeguard your neck goes unnoticed because it doesn't get in the way of how you move.
A study done in 2010 and 2011, including 6,704 high school athletes across 51 high schools in the United States, found that 16 concussed athletes had a smaller mean neck circumference and smaller mean overall neck strength than uninjured athletes (Collins et al., 2014).
Figure B Side View
Shock-absorber pad
Figure B Back View
Back Safety-Stop
Transfers Energy
Figure C represents an average neck artificially increased via the padding used to brace the helmet. This increase in neck size reinforces the neck's ability to withstand strong force. Artificially increasing the neck diameter also changes the pivot point from the base of the neck to behind the neck. The increase of padding to support the neck also changes the balance of the helmet to work in the athletes favor instead of contributing to concussion potential. Artificially increasing the neck diameter also enhances the transfer of energy, increasing helmet/torso mass connection through bracing the helmet to the torso which research shows significantly reduces concussion potential.
"Smaller mean neck circumference, smaller mean neck to head circumference ratio, and weaker mean overall neck strength were significantly associated with concussion" (Collins, et al., 2014, p. 309).
Artificially increasing the neck diameter promoted the development of the automatic safety-stop which promotes energy transfer to the torso and away from the brain if the user fails to brace for the hit. Artificially increasing the neck diameter provides the ability to add the shock absorber pad which reduces whiplash and head trauma while it changes how a punch feels, softening the punch, when the helmet is braced.
Front Safety-Stops
Figure C
