Toward preventing traumatic brain injury : evaluation and design of modern helmet technologies
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Traumatic brain injury is a prominent global health issue affecting tens of millions of humans per year. Contact sports, in particular, present a particularly high risk of concussion (a form of mild traumatic brain injury) as well as repeated, subconcussive head impacts that can accumulate over a lifetime and are associated with development of neurodegenerative diseases in later life. This dissertation seeks to determine the efficacy of modern head protective technologies being utilized to reduce the risk of brain injury, with a specific focus on American football athletes. First, an instrumented mouthguard device was used in a field study to determine the factors affecting the severity of head impacts experienced in American football athletes, ultimately finding that significant differences in impact severity could not be detected between two existing helmet models on the field. Therefore, three modern devices that represent dramatic changes to helmet technology were evaluated to determine how they could improve impact safety. Using a large-scale test methodology that simulates impacts using the head, neck, and torso of two anthropomorphic test devices, the first technology explored was one that couples a helmet and shoulder pads as one unified piece of protective equipment. Next, both laboratory and field data were collected to determine the efficacy of a widely adopted padded helmet shell cover. While these first two technologies seek to improve safety by making additions to existing helmet technology, soft hydraulic shock absorbers were explored as a means of replacing existing helmet components to improve safety. A physical prototype of a wearable hydraulic shock absorber was developed, tested alongside existing state-of-the-art helmet shock absorbers, and implemented into a full helmet system for impact testing. Finally, a finite element model of an American football helmet comprised entirely of liquid shock absorbers was developed and evaluated alongside existing helmet models for its performance under impact loading representative of concussive and subconcussive impacts. The results of this research demonstrate the promise, and limitations, of modern helmet technologies targeted towards preventing traumatic brain injury.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2024; ©2024 |
| Publication date | 2024; 2024 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Cecchi, Nicholas |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Camarillo, David |
| Degree supervisor | Delp, Scott |
| Thesis advisor | Camarillo, David |
| Thesis advisor | Delp, Scott |
| Thesis advisor | Kuhl, Ellen |
| Thesis advisor | Zeineh, Michael |
| Degree committee member | Kuhl, Ellen |
| Degree committee member | Zeineh, Michael |
| Associated with | Stanford University, School of Engineering |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Bioengineering |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Nicholas James Cecchi. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Bioengineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2024. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/yx941fh3315 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2024 by Nicholas Cecchi
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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