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Category

Technology/equipment

Document Type

Paper

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of angle of impact, neck stiffness, and impact location on measures of shear forces during a fall ground head collision to better understand the protective ability of a hockey helmet. Eighteen impacts at different velocities were conducted on 5 helmet impact locations, under 3 neck stiffness settings and 2 impact angles. Shear forces were measured for a total of 540 helmet impacts. A three way factorial ANOVA revealed a significant three-way interaction effect between impact location, neck stiffness and angle of impact on shear force measures, F(8, 510)= 5.550, p<.005, ��2= .080. The outcome of this study suggests that neck strength and angle of impact combined influence the magnitude of the shear forces responsible for generating angular accelerations across helmet impact locations during a fall ground head collision. The outcome of this study highlight the need to develop helmet testing protocols to better understand the ability of helmets to protect the head against shear forces during an impact.

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