Helmet to prevent paralysis
Author: Aaeron ehast
All helmets, from football, skiing or motorcycle riding, are designed to protect the head from impact. Each generation of design is better than the previous dissipate the force and protect the user from concussions and other bruises on the skull. However, current helmets can hardly do much to prevent spinal cord injuries that cause paralysis.
Now researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, are working on a design that could protect the spine during a collision. When a person’s head hits a straight, flat object, the impact usually causes neck crease by absorbing the bulk of the force. If a broken vertebra dissects or harms the delicate spinal cord, can result in permanent paralysis. If the head hits an object at an angle, it can bounce without much damage, hence the football players are taught to face their opponents head-up.
“I was interested to know whether there was a way to convert the impact against a flat object in an impact against an object at an angle,” said Peter Cripton, a mechanical engineer and specialist in biomechanics at UBC who led the project. He and his colleagues developed a helmet “Pro-Neck-Tor”, which consists of an outer shell that is similar to most helmets on the market today, but with an internal structure that hugs the head rotating and mechanism that connects the two structures.
“The main objective of helmets, whether in sports or transportation, is always to avoid brain damage. We try to do something different, “says Cripton. “We are working on a helmet that has the same ability to prevent concussions, but also serves to prevent neck injuries.” During normal use everyday, the internal structure remains stationary. But when the foot hits something hard enough, the mechanism is started and the internal structure rotates, directing his head as if hitting an incline instead of flat.
“Put more simply fill in the head will not solve the problems associated with neck injuries and could even worsen,”the injury biomechanics expert John Melvin, an associate professor at Wayne State University in Michigan, which has been studying the problem since 1968. “It’s a difficult problem, but are following a unique approach and I think it has potential. Should be assessed in many ways to make sure it is safe, not wanting to end up causing severe brain injury while trying to avoid a serious neck injury. “
Renew hulls is a difficult undertaking, especially because there is no proper way to conduct field trials without the use of live human beings (the dolls are worth testing and the bodies do not have the neck position and strength required.) But in the simulation tests, prototype 3D helmets reduced the force in the neck by 50%. Once the researchers refine the design, individualize helmets for different sports, football, hockey and cycling, for example, which often give rise to different types of impacts.
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