Can a helmet liner 'dissipate' energy of head hits?

• Company develops liner players can add to existing helmet padding.
• Liner does not claim to prevent concussions, but says it can reduce the 'Severity Impact' score.
• Several Pittsburgh Steelers use the liner, which also can be used in other helmeted sports.

PITTSBURGH – A Pennsylvania firm says it has developed a helmet liner that reduces the energy of blows to the head. Linebacker James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a target of NFL discipline for helmet-to-helmet hits that have caused concussions, is a convert who says the thin insert has helped him avoid "concussion-like symptoms" of his own.

Doctors are more cautious. They say test data is encouraging but on-the-field studies are needed. The NFL says it is monitoring the device.

"We are aware of it and are looking into it," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "It is currently the player's choice" whether to use it.

Robert Vito, president of Unequal Technologies, calls the liner a "seatbelt for the helmet."

The lining is an eighth-inch thick. It includes a layer of Kevlar, the synthetic fiber used in bulletproof vests, under a green, rubbery layer. Peel the paper off the Kevlar side and the liner has a sticky side so it can be applied over existing helmet padding.

"Anybody who tells you they can prevent or stop concussions, you should walk away. No such product exists,'' Vito said at a Tuesday news conference touting the liner.

But Unequal Technologies, which labels its product as "concussion reduction technology," says independent laboratory tests show its liner dissipates head impacts.

One measurement, called the Severity Index, is used by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE), a non-profit group which tests sports helmets.

To meet the NOCSAE criteria, a helmet must register below a certain Severity Index score. But NOCSAE also says on its website that other variables such as helmet fit, a player's medical history and style of hitting "are far more related to the likelihood of concussion" than the scores.

Unequal Technologies say tests showed its product can reduce the Severity Index score by up to 50 percent and the G Force measure of acceleration by 25 percent.

Vito said the insert is being used by about 100 NFL players, as well as "thousands" of athletes in other helmeted sports. Because modifying a helmet often voids the manufacturer's warranty, Vito says his company also assumes the helmet warranty.

Harrison, who was suspended for a game last season after a hit that knocked Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy out of a game with a concussion, was the first NFL player to use the liner. Does Harrison believe he has suffered concussions during his career?

"I would say yes I have," he says. "How many what they call clinically a concussion? … Who knows? Just say it's a lot. It's double digits probably concussions-like symptoms or whatever."

Since adding the extra lining, he said, "I haven't any ringers (ear ringing), spots, blackouts or anything like that since I started wearing it."

That's anecdotal evidence. A Riddell helmet on a nearby table contained the standard warning label: "Contact in football may results in concussion-brain injury, which no helmet can prevent."

Steelers backup quarterback Charlie Batch, also at the press conference, said several Steelers use the lining. Harrison said some are reluctant to add weight to their helmets, but Vito said the lining weighs just 3 to 4 ounces.

"It's very minimal but to some guys that's a lot of weight," Harrison says. "To me, to protect my head, I'd probably take a pound more."

Joseph Maroon, team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers, called test data on the liner "very encouraging," but said it is not a singular solution.

"I don't think any technology that's developed is going to eliminate concussions with the forces and momentum and the speed of the game," Maroon says.

"That's why we need to continue to study this. We need to evaluate it. What is the actual reduction in incidence of headaches, of post-traumatic types of problems?"

Chicago neurosurgeron Julian Bailes, medical director for Pop Warner youth football, says current helmets definitely protect against skull fractures. "There have been no skull fractures that we know of in football since the 1980s," Bailes says.

Concussions are the challenge.

"I'm very encouraged by the (Unequal Technologies) data we're seeing.'' Bailes says. " … It could become a vital tool against concussions, and we look forward … to clinical field studies in the future."

Harrison is sold.

"It's going to disperse the amount of impact that actually goes to your head before it gets to you. It's gonna help," Harrison says.

The football helmet lining comes as a kit made with pre-cut sections designed to match existing sections of padding inside various brands and models of helmets. The lining is also sold in sheets that can be cut with scissors.

Vito says it's being used by athletes at all levels in other sports such as hockey and lacrosse.

Jennifer Branin of Irvine, Calif., says it's used by her son, Tyler, and 15 of his teammates on his high school football team. Her husband found it online and asked if she thought it was a good idea.

"I said, 'Are you kidding me? I'd put bubble wrap around him,' '' Branin says.