Impact-absorbing Materials in Reducing Brain Vibration Caused by Ball-to-head Impact in Soccer

There has been a long debate among researchers on whether soccer heading is capable of causing brain trauma. A recent study suggests that headings exceeding a threshold level of 855 to 1,550 per year, results in microstructural abnormalities in the brain's white matter. This shows that brain tr...

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Main Authors: Zahari, Taha, Mohd Hasnun Ariff, Hassan, Hasanuddin, Iskandar, Mohd Azri, Aris, Anwar, P. P. A. Majeed
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Ltd 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/6640/1/fkp-2014-zahari-Impact-absorbing_materials.pdf
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author Zahari, Taha
Mohd Hasnun Ariff, Hassan
Hasanuddin, Iskandar
Mohd Azri, Aris
Anwar, P. P. A. Majeed
author_facet Zahari, Taha
Mohd Hasnun Ariff, Hassan
Hasanuddin, Iskandar
Mohd Azri, Aris
Anwar, P. P. A. Majeed
author_sort Zahari, Taha
collection UMP
description There has been a long debate among researchers on whether soccer heading is capable of causing brain trauma. A recent study suggests that headings exceeding a threshold level of 855 to 1,550 per year, results in microstructural abnormalities in the brain's white matter. This shows that brain trauma is caused by cumulative effect of repetitive headings. The use of protective headgear is one of the suggested preventive measures to protect the brain especially for younger players. Researchers have tested several commercial headgears and found that they are only effective in head-to-head impact, but ineffective in attenuating impact caused by heading. This is due to the fact that soccer ball is compliant in nature relative to the head. The aim of this study is to investigate materials that can be utilised to minimise the acceleration of the brain caused by soccer heading. A vertical drop ball test was conducted on an instrumented dummy skull. The inner cavity of the skull is filled with ultrasound gel that represents the brain. Six impact-absorbing materials were tested to determine the most effective material that reduces the acceleration of the brain substitute. The speed of the ball before and after impact as well as impact duration were measured using high-speed camera. Coefficient of restitution was calculated to ensure the material is not only capable of reducing the brain acceleration, but also maintains heading performance. It was found that polymer kneepad foam is the most effective material that minimises the acceleration of brain substitute whilst maintaining the speed of the ball after impact.
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spelling UMPir66402018-09-25T08:22:02Z http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/6640/ Impact-absorbing Materials in Reducing Brain Vibration Caused by Ball-to-head Impact in Soccer Zahari, Taha Mohd Hasnun Ariff, Hassan Hasanuddin, Iskandar Mohd Azri, Aris Anwar, P. P. A. Majeed RA Public aspects of medicine There has been a long debate among researchers on whether soccer heading is capable of causing brain trauma. A recent study suggests that headings exceeding a threshold level of 855 to 1,550 per year, results in microstructural abnormalities in the brain's white matter. This shows that brain trauma is caused by cumulative effect of repetitive headings. The use of protective headgear is one of the suggested preventive measures to protect the brain especially for younger players. Researchers have tested several commercial headgears and found that they are only effective in head-to-head impact, but ineffective in attenuating impact caused by heading. This is due to the fact that soccer ball is compliant in nature relative to the head. The aim of this study is to investigate materials that can be utilised to minimise the acceleration of the brain caused by soccer heading. A vertical drop ball test was conducted on an instrumented dummy skull. The inner cavity of the skull is filled with ultrasound gel that represents the brain. Six impact-absorbing materials were tested to determine the most effective material that reduces the acceleration of the brain substitute. The speed of the ball before and after impact as well as impact duration were measured using high-speed camera. Coefficient of restitution was calculated to ensure the material is not only capable of reducing the brain acceleration, but also maintains heading performance. It was found that polymer kneepad foam is the most effective material that minimises the acceleration of brain substitute whilst maintaining the speed of the ball after impact. Elsevier Ltd 2014 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by_nc_nd http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/6640/1/fkp-2014-zahari-Impact-absorbing_materials.pdf Zahari, Taha and Mohd Hasnun Ariff, Hassan and Hasanuddin, Iskandar and Mohd Azri, Aris and Anwar, P. P. A. Majeed (2014) Impact-absorbing Materials in Reducing Brain Vibration Caused by Ball-to-head Impact in Soccer. Procedia Engineering: The Engineering of Sport 10, 72. pp. 515-520. ISSN 1877-7058. (Published) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2014.06.088 DOI: 10.1016/j.proeng.2014.06.088
spellingShingle RA Public aspects of medicine
Zahari, Taha
Mohd Hasnun Ariff, Hassan
Hasanuddin, Iskandar
Mohd Azri, Aris
Anwar, P. P. A. Majeed
Impact-absorbing Materials in Reducing Brain Vibration Caused by Ball-to-head Impact in Soccer
title Impact-absorbing Materials in Reducing Brain Vibration Caused by Ball-to-head Impact in Soccer
title_full Impact-absorbing Materials in Reducing Brain Vibration Caused by Ball-to-head Impact in Soccer
title_fullStr Impact-absorbing Materials in Reducing Brain Vibration Caused by Ball-to-head Impact in Soccer
title_full_unstemmed Impact-absorbing Materials in Reducing Brain Vibration Caused by Ball-to-head Impact in Soccer
title_short Impact-absorbing Materials in Reducing Brain Vibration Caused by Ball-to-head Impact in Soccer
title_sort impact absorbing materials in reducing brain vibration caused by ball to head impact in soccer
topic RA Public aspects of medicine
url http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/6640/1/fkp-2014-zahari-Impact-absorbing_materials.pdf
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