The ForceField Headguard is lightweight, ventilated and adjustable with an impact absorbing polymeric layer that wraps around the head, offering increased protection at crucial impact zones at the forehead and temples where many head impacts occur.It's all part of our patented design combing advanced technology without taking away any of the techniques involved in playing the sport of soccer.
The product absorbs perspiration. If one side gets wet, you turn it inside out and use the other side. On real hot days, it can be place it under cold water and put on for cooling as well. It is easily washed by just placing the headband under a running faucet. Two United States patents have been approved, and there are others pending.
The features are:
1. Reduces the risk of head injuries when exposed to external forces.
2. The headband absorbs and dissipates perspiration.
3. It is reversible and washable.
4. Can be used inside any protective helmet.
5. In addition to soccer, this is the only protective headband designed for the sport of basketball.
6. Protective headband for children's recreational play.
SPORTS RELATED DATA
Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. 120-150 million people play soccer worldwide
with over 15-17 million participants in Canada and the United States. McGill University research has shown that over one year, around 2/3 of university soccer players will have symptoms of a concussion after being hit in the head playing soccer.
Football has more total concussions in the USA because there are more football players. The risk or rate of concussions is almost identical for each sport. However, the number of soccer players has been increasing in the US over the past decade, while the number of football players has been decreasing. If this trend continues, eventually there will be more soccer players than football players in the US. If and when more people play soccer in the US, then there will be more concussions due to soccer than football.
The US government has realized there is a problem. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a government organization, collects data from selected hospital Emergency Departments from across the entire U.S. in an effort to estimate the total number of injuries occurring during specific activities (ex. Soccer) and/or injuries occurring with specific products. The CPSC uses the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) as a monitoring device. NEISS figures are based on a sample of participating U.S. hospital Emergency Departments rather than a census of all U.S. hospital Emergency Departments.
Purpose: This report summarizes the results of preliminary testing to determine the impact absorption performance characteristics of prototype headbands for soccer.
Method: The independent measure of interest was peak G (i.e. impact deceleration). The dependent variable of impact velocity and energy were held constant at 1.9 m/s and 9.2 J, respectively. An ISO headform (size L ~ medium adult) with triaxial accelerometer (Kistler) mounted at the approximate center of mass was dropped by means of a bi-rail basket guide (similar to CEN 960 for ice hockey) from a height of 30 cm (see figure 1). Ten initial tests were conducted without any headbands mounted to provide baseline measures. Three impact per sample were conducted with approximately 30 seconds between impacts. The initial ten impacts without headbands produced peak G values of 652.4 G’s. With the new patented headbands introduced, impact absorption (i.e. the ratio between no head band versus with headband) demonstrated values up to 83% (average of three impacts).
ASTM F 1446-04
The impact test apparatus complied with ASTM F 2220-02.
Drop height : 40.6 inches
Impact velocity: 4.41-4.59 m/s
Impact Surface: MEP Pad-N594
ANSI/DOT Headform size: C
Steel flat anvil except for (*) triangular anvil with batter’s helmet.
Figure 1.
Drop Test Apparatus. The headform was mounted to permit impact between the mid anterior-crown locations.
