Concussion expert tells podcast host NFL's Guardian caps are more show than science
Chris Nowinski, co-founder of the Concussion & CTE Foundation and a former professional wrestler who retired due to concussions, appeared on Pablo Torre's podcast to argue that Guardian caps do not meaningfully protect football players from concussions. Nowinski alleged that the NFL manipulated its own data, and that when the league's study was subjected to peer review using video analysis, it failed to hold up. He also drew a distinction between the Guardian caps used in the NFL and those worn by high school and youth players, contending that the version distributed to younger athletes was one the NFL itself had previously rejected and that produced no measurable benefit in lab testing. According to Nowinski, the league promotes Guardian caps primarily to signal to the public that it is addressing head trauma, rather than because the equipment is proven to work.
Why it matters
For coaches: Coaches who have adopted Guardian caps as a safety measure may want to follow independent research on their actual efficacy.
For parents: Parents of youth and high school football players should be aware that, according to this expert, the Guardian caps their children wear are a weaker version than those used in the NFL and showed no measurable benefit in lab tests.
For athletes: Players at all levels who rely on Guardian caps for head protection may be getting less safety benefit than the NFL's public messaging suggests, according to this expert.
Read the full story at Awful Announcing
Sources
- Awful Announcing · Matt Yoder: Chris Nowinski tells Pablo Torre NFL guardian caps are a ‘scam’