Survey Reveals Gaps in Americans and Germans Understanding of Concussion Causes and Possible Risk Reduction

A new survey suggests a large disconnect in Americans’ and Germans’ education around concussions and how to reduce the risk of them using helmets.

Among the most significant findings of the survey is that about 70 percent of both American and German helmet buyers are unaware of the term rotational motion. Lack of understanding of rotational motion, a key contributor to TBIs, appears to correlate with Americans’ and Germans’ helmet purchasing decisions; 7 out of 10 American helmet buyers and 6 out of 10 German helmet buyers did not consider at all how well the helmet could protect against rotational motion when buying a helmet.

Rotational motion is a common cause for concussions and more severe brain injuries in oblique hits to the head. In most instances when you fall while moving and hit your head, you don’t hit your head in a straight 90-degree angle towards the surface. Instead, you often fall and hit your head at an angle. When your head hits something at an angle, it typically exposes your head to rotational motion, which studies have shown can be more dangerous than linear motion.

Pioneer studies from the mid-20th century have shown that rotational motion is a key component in some traumatic brain injuries such as concussions and diffuse axonal injury^1,2,3. The rotational motion causes shearing of the brain tissue, which can cause traumatic brain injuries. After these pioneering studies, more recent studies have supported the prevalence of rotational motion in diffuse traumatic brain injuries^4,5,6,7. Despite this evidence, today there are only two helmet testing standards that account for rotational motion (FIM and ECE22.06), both of which pertain only to motorcycle helmets in the EU.

The survey, which was conducted by Nielsen, a consumer survey company, and commissioned by Mips, a helmet safety technology company, polled a representative sample of 1,000 Americans and 1,000 Germans, split evenly between male and female, ranging 18-65 years old. All survey subjects have either bought a helmet in the past three years or plan to buy a helmet in the next six months for any of the following applications: cycling, rock climbing, horse riding, motorcycling, skiing, snowboarding, team sports, or safety equipment.

For more information, visit https://mipsprotection.com.

1. Holbourn, A. H. S. (1943). Mechanics of Head Injuries. The Lancet, 9, 438–441.

2. Ommaya, A. K., Yarnell, P., Hirsch, A. E., & Harris, E. H. (1967). Scaling of Experimental Data on Cerebral Concussion in Sub-Human Primates to Concussion Threshold for Man. 11th Stapp Car Crash Conference, 47-52.

3. Margulies, S. S., & Thibault, L. E. (1992). A Proposed Tolerance Criterion for Diffuse Axonal Injury in Man. Journal of Biomechanics, 25(8), 917–923.

4. Browne, K. D., Chen, X. H., Meaney, D. F., & Smith, D. H. (2011). Mild traumatic brain injury and diffuse axonal injury in swine. Journal of Neurotrauma, 28(9), 1747–1755.

5. Gennarelli, T. A., Thibault, L. E., & Ommaya, A. K. (1972). Pathophysiologic Responses to Rotational and Translational Acclerations of the Head. 16th Stapp Car Crash Conference, 296–308.

6. Kleiven, S. (2007). Predictors for Traumatic Brain Injuries Evaluated through Accident Reconstructions. Stapp Car Crash Journal, 51, 81–114.

7. Kleiven, S. (2013). Why Most Traumatic Brain Injuries are Not Caused by Linear Acceleration but Skull Fractures Are. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 1, 1–5.