Stanford brings some science to the grid iron

[U-Ute]

They have been wearing mouth guards this season fitted with accelerometers, to measure the force of impacts.

This could be a very interesting science moving forward.

Stanford Investigates the Hits that Cause Concussions

Camarillo says the mouth guards have already captured some startlingly hard hits, like the one that ended the season for a wide receiver. That collision registered an acceleration of 150 Gs, that's 150 times the acceleration gravity. “Pretty serious business,” he says, “a standard boxing punch is probably between 10-20 Gs.

[SCcoug]

During the Orange Bowl the announcers said Florida State has some integrated into the pads. On one touchdown run they said how fast the guy was running.

[lambdacoug]

During the Orange Bowl the announcers said Florida State has some integrated into the pads. On one touchdown run they said how fast the guy was running.

Garmin getting into the football pad business?

[Winky Bach]

I wonder if the findings will change anything.

This story from a couple of years ago makes me suspect they will find bad news:

[ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5569329"]Owen Thomas, Penn player who committed suicide, had brain disease - ESPN[/ame]
...


"The evidence coming in from Owen -- and it will have to be confirmed from much further study -- is that this [injury] is not just a question of a person getting big hits and then ignoring them," Brearley told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "This is a person getting many little hits, starting from a young age. Football linebackers might get 1,000 little hits. Now we're thinking these are like teaspoons. A thousand teaspoons of water could be the same as a big jug. It's possible."