Measuring the Impact of Football Concussions

Concussions are arguably football's most prominent injury, but they're also its most mysterious. With the help of Stanford University's football team, a group of Stanford doctors and neuroscientists is working to quantify the head trauma that players sustain during a game.

High-definition, super-slow-motion cameras are being used to track special markings on the helmets in order to provide details on the impact velocity of a blow to the head. The researchers have also developed custom mouth guards equipped with accelerometers and gyrometers that measure linear and rotational acceleration. The data from the sensors - which the scientists pull from the mouth guards after games and practices throughout the season - will provide critical baseline data of how many jarring hits players typically experience.

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