from Jeff Z. Klein of the New York Times,
Hockey helmets may be on the verge of a radical makeover, as scientists and engineers at Virginia Tech prepare a rating system that measures each brand’s and model’s ability to reduce the risk of concussion.
“After football, hockey is the sport that produces the highest rate of concussion,” said Dr. Stefan M. Duma, a Virginia Tech professor and the head of the university’s biomedical engineering department. “We want to produce a mechanism to try and reduce that risk of concussion.”...
“This is going to hit hockey like a ton of bricks,” said Dale Pfriem, president of ICS Laboratories, an Ohio-based company that tests and assesses personal protective equipment. Pfriem was part of a group of hockey helmet manufacturers and testers invited to Virginia Tech to review the center’s methodology before formal testing begins.
Hockey helmets have been relatively thin and light throughout their long history, closer in spirit to cycling helmets than football headgear. Even in recent years, as design evolved to make them more effective in preventing skull fractures, hockey helmets have remained lightweight and without much internal padding.
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