"Brain Pads" or other high end mouthpieces

I did.

I did some extensive research on the subject of concussions and I found out the most of what we now know about concussions has been made known within the last five years.

Did you know that 95% of all concussions are transmitted through the mandible into the temporal mandibular joint ? That's the point at which the jaw bone meets the bottom of the skull. The reason for this is that the helmet is afixed at exactly that point: The chinstrap. When ANY contact is made to the helmet, the shock transmitted through the jaw into the bottom of the skull. The presence of a superior mouthpiece absorbs this shock and it doesn't make it to the skull. Also,it helps to keep a small distance between the jaw bone and the skull there by making it much more difficult to receive a concussion this way.

The worst concussions come from when the player hits the ground. Of those concussions that put a player out, 40% come from contact with the ground. A superior mouithpiece will help in mitigating this type of brain injury as well.

I'm not trying to sell the Brain Pad, there are several different brands of mouthpieces out there that will do the job. I've always issued the Scott brand because it can be fitted by a dentist and it is cost effective (the Brain Pad runs somewhere around $25.00 each, I think). Some of the players went out and purchased the Shock Doctor and I made the Brain Pad available to our players through the student store, they could go in and buy one if they wanted to.

Add to this the best football helmets that were on the market, dedication to strengthening the neck, shoulder and upper torso muscles just for concussion prevention, registering with the on line concussion tracking service and coaching the players to keep the head out of contact and we saw a drastic decrease in concussions.

We still saw some concussions, but guess what, the guys who missed summer strength and conditioning were the ones who got the worst concussions.

I will also go one step farther. Continually monitor the fit of your players helmets. I know we reduced concussions in college by maintaining a proper fit. We did not depend on the athlete telling us there was an issue. This also includes bent or bowed facemasks.