Army Supports NFL Brain Injury ‘Innovation Challenge’
The NFL yesterday announced a major research consortium to study traumatic brain injuries in the latest such effort that also will involve the Army.
The Head Health Initiative is a two-phased initiative. The first is a four-year, $40 million research and development program to find ways to detect and diagnose brain injuries. The second is a two-year “Innovation Challenge” that would put up to $20 million toward research on things like protective gear to protect against those injuries.
Army spokesman Maj. Jesse Johnson said the Army will be among several sponsors of the Innovation Challenge to build better equipment, such as helmets, to prevent concussions in football players. The consortium plans to give cash awards for up to five innovation winners.
“The Army asked to be a non-corporate sponsor in the Innovation Challenge for the years of research we bring to the table,” Johnson said. “The Army has made this a huge priority,” investing $700 million in TBI research in the past five years.
“What the Army brings is we will be sitting on a board to judge Innovative Challenges and provide experts to sit on boards that drive the research, and we’ll provide soldiers for clinical trials on the equipment,” he said of the latest endeavor.
The NFL has been interested in several military research and development efforts, including the Army’s advanced combat helmet, its special padding, and its second-generation helmet sensors to detect blasts that are likely to lead to concussions, Army researchers say. A football helmet requires different size and scope than a combat helmet, but both sides hope to share design elements, they said.
While the Army and other services were ramping up their understanding of brain injuries in recent years – and trying to increase awareness and action from service members – they found a friend in the NFL, which had struggled for years with the same issues.
The NFL had already met with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury had formed a partnership with the NFL Players Association, when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell approached the Army last year about a broader initiative.
The Army and NFL gathered soldiers and players together in the Pentagon and, after assessing their own members, found that among soldiers and players, neither wanted to leave their work to deal with a head injury, Johnson said.
“It’s all about the team,” he said. “If a player takes a big hit, he doesn’t want to leave the field; if a soldier takes a hit, he doesn’t want to leave the battle. There is a culture we need to change in positive ways in both our communities.”
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno advanced the initiative with Goodell in August during a joint appearance at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. NFL and Army leaders quickly followed with a joint appearance on Capitol Hill and, in November, the NFL started an annual “Salute to Service” in which each team chooses a home game in which they pay tribute to the military.
Perhaps the most important thing to come out of the arrangement, according to Army officials, has been the steady visits of NFL players and former players to installations to speak with service members about their experiences with head injuries.
“The big thing the NFL brings to the table is their popularity with our soldiers,” Johnson said. “When you have NFL players speaking -- and they are really passionate when they’re speaking to soldiers -- that’s really effective. The Army can talk all day long, but when you bring in the NFL players, the soldiers are really listening, and vice versa. We’ve found that with these NFL players, when a soldier talks, it gets their attention.”
Lisa Daniel | Health.mil
March 12, 2013
The NFL yesterday announced a major research consortium to study traumatic brain injuries in the latest such effort that also will involve the Army.
The Head Health Initiative is a two-phased initiative. The first is a four-year, $40 million research and development program to find ways to detect and diagnose brain injuries. The second is a two-year “Innovation Challenge” that would put up to $20 million toward research on things like protective gear to protect against those injuries.
Army spokesman Maj. Jesse Johnson said the Army will be among several sponsors of the Innovation Challenge to build better equipment, such as helmets, to prevent concussions in football players. The consortium plans to give cash awards for up to five innovation winners.
“The Army asked to be a non-corporate sponsor in the Innovation Challenge for the years of research we bring to the table,” Johnson said. “The Army has made this a huge priority,” investing $700 million in TBI research in the past five years.
“What the Army brings is we will be sitting on a board to judge Innovative Challenges and provide experts to sit on boards that drive the research, and we’ll provide soldiers for clinical trials on the equipment,” he said of the latest endeavor.
The NFL has been interested in several military research and development efforts, including the Army’s advanced combat helmet, its special padding, and its second-generation helmet sensors to detect blasts that are likely to lead to concussions, Army researchers say. A football helmet requires different size and scope than a combat helmet, but both sides hope to share design elements, they said.
While the Army and other services were ramping up their understanding of brain injuries in recent years – and trying to increase awareness and action from service members – they found a friend in the NFL, which had struggled for years with the same issues.
The NFL had already met with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury had formed a partnership with the NFL Players Association, when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell approached the Army last year about a broader initiative.
The Army and NFL gathered soldiers and players together in the Pentagon and, after assessing their own members, found that among soldiers and players, neither wanted to leave their work to deal with a head injury, Johnson said.
“It’s all about the team,” he said. “If a player takes a big hit, he doesn’t want to leave the field; if a soldier takes a hit, he doesn’t want to leave the battle. There is a culture we need to change in positive ways in both our communities.”
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno advanced the initiative with Goodell in August during a joint appearance at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. NFL and Army leaders quickly followed with a joint appearance on Capitol Hill and, in November, the NFL started an annual “Salute to Service” in which each team chooses a home game in which they pay tribute to the military.
Perhaps the most important thing to come out of the arrangement, according to Army officials, has been the steady visits of NFL players and former players to installations to speak with service members about their experiences with head injuries.
“The big thing the NFL brings to the table is their popularity with our soldiers,” Johnson said. “When you have NFL players speaking -- and they are really passionate when they’re speaking to soldiers -- that’s really effective. The Army can talk all day long, but when you bring in the NFL players, the soldiers are really listening, and vice versa. We’ve found that with these NFL players, when a soldier talks, it gets their attention.”
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