HeadSmart Labs Launches to Advance New Testing Devices, Products and Procedures Designed to Reduce Sports-Related Head Injuries

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

HeadSmart™Labs, a Healy Ventures LLC company, today announced its official launch to advance research methods that will aid in the prevention of head and neck injuries sustained by athletes who wear helmets during collision sports such as American football. By rethinking helmet testing, HeadSmart Labs will develop products, procedures and testing devices designed to greatly reduce the incidence of concussions.

Head injuries sustained in sports have become a major concern for players and sports organizations at all levels. The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine estimates as many as 3.8 million concussions are sustained in the U.S. each year from competitive sports, with football having one of the highest concussion rates. A college football player can receive more than 1,400 potentially crucial head impacts in a given season. Football is being affected at every level; according to ESPN, participation of youth in Pop Warner football dropped by 9.5 percent between 2010 and 2011. This was thought to be the largest decline in the history of the organization, and concerns over head injuries were cited as the number one cause. In addition, attorneys for 4,500 former professional football players with head injuries recently arrived at a preliminary settlement with the NFL (National Football League) that provides unlimited compensation for players' damages from head injuries, which may amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.

HeadSmart Labs' research will focus on reducing impact forces transferred to the head by understanding how helmets are and should be worn; determining the optimum pressures at which helmets should be inflated; and promoting additional standards for helmets. The lab will also help establish new benchmarks for when a helmet should be replaced because it no longer maintains its protective capabilities. HeadSmart Labs will work to gain insight into the kinds of impacts and collisions that cause concussions, create immediate solutions that will utilize players' existing equipment, and develop recommendations and products to make protective equipment more effective.

"In football there are violent collisions, and the better we can make players' equipment perform the safer they will be,” said Steve Grogan, owner of Grogan Marciano Sporting Goods and former NFL quarterback for the New England Patriots from 1975 to 1990. “I firmly believe that anything that can be done to help ensure the safety of player's heads needs to be done, and that the research HeadSmart Labs is conducting will make the sport better."

HeadSmart Labs is led by Thomas Healy, a Boston native, graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) studying Mechanical Engineering, and an NCAA student-athlete playing for the CMU Tartans football team. In addition to Healy, HeadSmart Labs is partnering with researchers from the Pittsburgh area, including Dr. Burak Ozdoganlar, a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of ICES (The Institute for Complex Engineered Systems) at CMU, as well as fellow student-athletes on the CMU football team.

“Having played competitive football for 16 years, I have seen firsthand the effect concussions can have on individual players and teams,” said Healy. “I have always had a passion for finding ways to make the game safer. HeadSmart Labs is dedicated to improving the safety of sports helmets and reducing the frequency and severity of head and neck injuries sustained by athletes. I know we can make a difference that will allow athletes to stay safe while doing what they love.”

HeadSmart Labs is participating in NineSigma's GE NFL Head Health Grand Challenge, a $10 million program seeking solutions that produce advancements in preventing, measuring and detecting brain injury, innovative brain protective materials and devices, and training methods that result in behavior modifications. HeadSmart Labs will soon begin testing with the CMU football team.

About HeadSmart™ Labs, a Healy Ventures LLC company:
HeadSmart™ Labs is a research company founded by Thomas Healy to develop new approaches, testing devices, and products to aid in the prevention of head injuries from impact sports where helmets are required. HeadSmart Labs is currently working with researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as student athletes from the Carnegie Mellon football team, to develop these products. Learn more at www.HeadSmartLabs.com.