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The incidence of concussions is of ever-mounting concern to the NFL brass, what with legislators discussing and researchers studying the long-term adverse effects of strapping on a helmet and getting your brains violently scrambled.
Any safety device that doesn't detract from the expected speed and savagery of the game is therefore of great interest. And while a recent advance in mouthguards, developed by Patriots team dentist Gerald Maher, can't promise to eliminate concussions altogether, it can protect against one of the three types of hits that commonly cause concussions.
At the top end of the jawbone (also known as the mandible) is the condyle. The TMJ is at the end of the condyle which can move within a space of the skull bone called a fossa. Separating these two bones is a pad of cartilage called an articular disc.When the condyle is not lined up with the articular disc, it cannot do its job as a shock absorber protecting the base of the skull and the brain. Instead, the jawbone is positioned on the base of the skull housing the temporal lobe of the brain. In the event of a strong hit to the jaw or chin, the jawbone slams into the skull.
That hit ultimately affects the temporal lobe and can cause a concussion.
Maher’s device makes sure the condyle is always lined up with the disc, thus removing that particular way of receiving a concussion.
Using the mouthguards, the Patriots are believed to have had the fewest concussions of any NFL team last year. Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel, former Patriots, are now vocal exponents of the mouthguards among their new teammates. A three-year study co-authored by Maher involving high school players showed a marked decrease in concussions in the years after the mouthguards became standard. And if the NFL can potentially avoid paying out medical costs at the cost of improved mouthguards, you better believe these things will be sweeping the league in short order.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
9 comments
Comments
This is great news. I for one don’t want the players getting any more concussions for their own health plus any more rules will make the league stupid.
that said, has helmet technology gotten as good as it can get?
by msd0060 on Nov 7, 2009 6:06 PM EST reply actions
Cassel and Vrabel are "vocal exponents"??? WHF is an exponent?! It’s a math term. Geez SI, can’t you find a writer who knows the difference between an exponent and a proponent? They are vocal proponents of the mouthpiece!
by mydh12 on Nov 7, 2009 6:21 PM EST reply actions
@mydh12
definition of ‘exponent’ from Dictionary.com:
1.
a person or thing that expounds, explains, or interprets: an exponent of modern theory in the arts.
2.
a person or thing that is a representative, advocate, type, or symbol of something: Lincoln is an exponent of American democracy
by mdinitto.tsn on Nov 7, 2009 6:40 PM EST reply actions
mydh12, i got caught on a thing like this, also.
a coach said that his players could’grieve’ to the union if they wanted to.
i complained the ‘grieve’ was to make sorry, according to my webster’s seventh.
but the new dictionary.com said that ‘to grieve’ was also to file a complaint with a union.
i agree with you, but in today’s messed-up MTV culture, people like us who remember that words can be beautiful entities are definately outnumbered, and therefore losers.
42
by timpani25 on Nov 7, 2009 10:32 PM EST reply actions
I just love these yahoos who post solely to make ignorant statements that have nothing to do with the real message of the article, cowardly attack the SN writers using their keyboards as a weapon, and then end up look like the total jerks that they are. In this case it would be mydh12, though I’ve noticed a lot of this crap happening lately. What happened to all the posters who actually had something intelligent to say?
By the way mydh12, since you’re so hung up on grammar, what exactly is WHF supposed to mean?
by rbdonovan on Nov 8, 2009 12:31 AM EST reply actions
If we really want to be picky here: @mydh, it’s SN, not SI; @timpani25 (or is it e.e. cummings with the non-capitalization?), it’s definitely, not definately. And what does MTV have to do with anything?
by tgatto.tsn on Nov 9, 2009 8:05 PM EST reply actions
It is unbecoming to the blogger, all this book-learning….
by L'etat, c'est moi on Nov 9, 2009 8:20 PM EST reply actions
Thanks For article…
http://www.kangalefsanesi.netby duman on Nov 12, 2009 11:10 AM EST reply actions
Using the mouthguards
by amsalak on Nov 12, 2009 11:26 AM EST reply actions
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