MY RESEARCH EVIDENCES THE SCIENCE BACKED DATA EACH PROVEN IN THEIR RESPECTIVE SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL FIELDS.
One study conducted by a research group based in Spain identified 22% of all football injuries are concussion related due to heading the ball in a certain direction during their match play performance. As part of this study they assessed the match ball in inflation pressure, size, velocity as a means by which to assess impact force to the head. It was estimated at that specific time there were 265 million professional athletes and amateurs involved in the footballing field of expertise. I have to state at this point if you consider in the UK right now we have approximately 850 thousand people affected by some variant form of dementia, I believe this figure will be closer towards 2 to 3 million simply based on estimated undiagnosed figures of our worldwide sporting athletes involved in impact sports specifically.
Whilst this study is an amazing research piece, in my view it evidences the risks associated with the game on specific size balls and the bigger the ball the bigger the risk dependant on age is one takeaway from this research piece. The risk is further increased based on the ball becoming wet and the science is backed by the research to prove it. accredited here Factors affecting peak impact force during soccer headers and implications for the mitigation of head injuries (plos.org)
I found this research article which suggests in a single game one athlete will achieve heading a ball approximately 12 occasions, where in a single season an athlete will achieve heading a ball over 800 times. Article accredited here Concussions in Soccer: A Current Understanding – ScienceDirect .
My own research findings specifically focused a wide cross section of sports one of the main two areas I focused on was Rugby and NFL for the rates of concussion related figures, whilst touching on football and impact and recovery. The following research piece provides some amazing insight into what the US refer to as soccer which is our football with focus on concussion related data and statistics. Article accredited here Concussion History in Elite Male and Female Soccer Players – Brett C. Barnes, Leslie Cooper, Donald T. Kirkendall, T. Paul McDermott, Barry D. Jordan, William E Garrett, 1998 (sagepub.com) A fantastic research piece. Please do consider the fact that women are more at risk of incurring a concussion related trauma than men which is quite disconcerting to our female sporting heroes. It is claimed within one of the above articles as high as 70% concussion instances were not recognised by the athlete as even having experienced a concussion of any kind.
I know as part of one of my earlier blogs I covered the psychological impact of an impact catering towards behaviour changes and evidenced the science behind that reasoning. The following report outlines the very live and real threat as to why children under 10 and between the ages of 11 through to 14 should not head the ball in my professional view. This study evidences with science backed impact data proving beyond reasonable doubt the threat of an oversized or adult ball impacting a head with an impact weight of over 50g would cause irreparable harm accredited here Theoretical Study of the Effect of Ball Properties on Impact… : Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (lww.com).
I takeaway from these studies that size of ball between the ages of 5 through to 10 does have an impact or at the very least create a slight increase at risk of developing dysfunction. If continued and repeated heading of a ball is undertaken on a ball size that is in excess of the sizes that should be permitted IE sizes 3-4 for that age group.
They determined the areas most at risk of occurring an injury could form from the following criteria; inflation pressure, ball size, head mass, neck torso stiffness. One takeaway from this, I would say the specific aspect of people playing the game safely is key critical to the size of the ball and their age group as covered within the pressure or PSI.
So, what can we do to assess this further, well as an innovator I first looked at the coverings on such professional balls as used by the athletes and on sale in your general sports shops.
You have to break something down to almost a reverse engineering perspective to simply assess the make up of the football. I started with the inner bladder which are apparently butyl bladders and or latex, the stronger the bladder the heavier the overall weight especially on butyl, which I understand is the ones used in professional balls at topflight level.
When you venture into territory of mixing the inner bladder this is where we need further assessment, for example there is indication that some use a mix of butyl and latex mix to create the bladder with proportionate values such as 30/50/80% mixture. One article here The Difference Between Latex, Butyl and SR Bladder | Ball One (ball-one.de)
I believe if we need to develop the game for a better future for all generations then we must first start with the basics of the games impact points, and the ball is critical in this role specifically in football. I found this product whilst conducting research Aerogels: Thinner, Lighter, Stronger | NASA an aerogel does evidence that in practical application it could be considered in the make up for the inner lining of a football in my view with no bladder. One issue was the material is 95% porous, would it be the case that making the very versatile material waterproof could make a difference. Trial and error on that one.
I then considered the outer stitching and material and what we could make the materials out off in the creation of a modern ball that does exactly what it should with safety being the sole focus. If you limit the number of foldable stitched flaps on a football in my view there would be less risk of a head impact occurring on stitching. So less panels ultimately, I found this innovative design from Nike, world leaders in their respective research field. Nike Flight Ball – Nike News if you look closer at image 4 on the close up, it looks like an impressive product. However, I would consider if you can 3d print specific sections that create and improve the flight of the ball then surely we could actually create those same sections on a ball with a different safety aspect in mind.
I would propose the following as one idea for those to trial test, an aerogel inner lining instead of a bladder, an outer cover that has less sections still retaining the hexagonal shape. On the hexagonal outer cover as seen in image 4 why could we not use a backfilled lightweight filler of some sort which does not effect the over weight and size of the ball. A 3d printed honeycomb design of the nature that would fit across such panelling made up of a silicone gel. This effect would in essence create the similar set up to the blood brain barrier between the brain and the outer skull that would remove any need for a footballer to wear a protective helmet down the line.
I am not supported nor endorsed by anybody although I should look into affiliate marketing perhaps, I share this idea with those that have the ability to make the changes.
“Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation, in its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.” —J. K. Rowling
other sources Theoretical Study of the Effect of Ball Properties on Impact… : Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (lww.com)
Concussions in Soccer: A Current Understanding – ScienceDirect
image credited to jeffrey f lin unsplash