Football Helmets Introduction

A game of high collisions, American football exposes players to an assortment of injuries--especially to the head. Peter King with Sports Illustrated reported:
Dr. Ann McKee, an associate professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University, has been studying the brains of deceased football players. She says, 'In fact, I have never seen this disease (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) in any person who doesn't have the kind of repetitive head trauma that players would have (35).
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is a disease in which a toxic protein called tau chokes of cellular life in the brain. Long before this research's results were published, head injuries have been a concern. Far removed from the early, useless, leather helmets of the young days of football, helmets have improved vastly to reduce head injuries.