A year after the NFL pledged $100M in support of independent medical research, a Scientific Advisory Board assembled by the league is "set to launch its program to solicit and evaluate research proposals for funding" and will "provide direction" for the $40M allocated under the league's initiative, according to Barry Wilner of the AP. The NFL has an "ongoing affiliation with the armed forces, and in April partnered with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command on a three-year venture to collaborate on head health research and development." One of the areas receiving concentrated attention by the league is "developing equipment that provides even more specific and enhanced feedback on improving safety in football." Helmets, shoulder pads and other pads, and footwear "all have seen improvements, but there's much more to be done." The league has "embarked on what it calls 'The Engineering Roadmap,'" a $60M program "designed to improve head protection equipment." The program is "managed in collaboration" with the NFLPA's engineering consultants. Of note is a "focus on sensors that can determine all sorts of data to help enhance safety." The league and the NFLPA are "working to develop novel sensor technology capable of accurately recording the motion of the head during impact in varying game conditions and positions." The plan is for the NFL, when the technology is ready, to "offer mouth guards instrumented with such sensors to players to measure their impact response" (AP, 8/29).
PROTECTING THE PLAYERS: In Toronto, John Kryk reports the NFL this season has incorporated concussion-diagnosis tests "included in the fifth and newest version of the international Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT 5)." NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills said that locker room examinations for potentially concussed NFL players in '17 are "including all elements of the world's latest best-practices assessment tool." Kryk notes SCAT 5 testing is just "one of several important advancements" in the NFL's '17 game-day concussions evaluations. Previous NFL concussion-evaluation protocols have "not incorporated all diagnosis elements of a current SCAT," but this year's does "for the first time" (TORONTO SUN, 8/30).
