Researchers measure impact of football concussions

Stanford Report, October 24, 2012 - Preventing concussions in football requires first knowing what types of hits cause them. Stanford scientists have developed technologies that will help unlock that mystery. Concussions are arguably football's most prominent injury, but they're also its most mysterious. With the help of the Stanford football team , a group of Stanford doctors and neuroscientists is working to quantify the head trauma that players sustain during a game. "Here at Stanford we're working as a multi-disciplinary team in order to understand what causes a concussion, what causes these brain injuries," said David Camarillo , an assistant professor of bioengineering at the Stanford School of Medicine. The research is still in its infancy. The group is establishing the magnitude and types of forces exerted on a player's head and neck when he runs into other bodies over the course of a game or practice.