In the News: Neuroscientists are Critical of Australian Football League’s Headgear Endorsement
Brain injury is not easy to understand or prevent and this is why research investigating the cause of mild traumatic brain injury and CTE is critically important. In this AFL-GameGear news story, the stakeholders include, the athletes and their loved ones, the AFL leaders, AFL standards committee, neuroscience experts and GameGear product developers. Do they each seek to preserve brain health?
Link to article: Neuroscientist slams AFL’s ‘potentially dangerous’ headgear move
Two world-leading sports neuroscientists have slammed the AFL’s move to back a new helmet being tested to determine its capacity to reduce “the incidence of concussion”, despite numerous previous studies dismissing headgear’s ability to do so.
The Neuroscientists Chris Nowinski and Alan Pearce have raised concerns about the safety claims of the helmet which is already being sold online and marketed to protect players of all ages including youth.
Chris Nowinski PhD, is co-founder and CEO of the Concussion & CTE Foundation, a non-profit organization leading the fight against concussions and CTE. Nowinski also co-founded the UNITE Brain Bank at Boston University. Alan Pearce PhD is a neurophysiologist who’s primary research focus is on sports-related concussion. Both researchers have extensive publication records.
On their website, GameGear claims a “10x reduction in impact force” and a “90% reduced head acceleration” compared to other headgear
The Australian Football League (AFL) has its own Headgear Standards and the GameGear product is the only headgear to have met the standards.
