A Calgary high school is using new technology to help its football players. The Ernest Manning Griffins football teams are wearing helmets equipped with a sensor to help detect concussions and prevent further injury. Studies have shown repeated blows to the head cause the most severe brain injury. And when it comes to high school athletes, more than 50 percent will not admit to injury so they can remain in the game. Each player on the Griffins is given a baseline concussion test at the start of the season. Every impact – from practice and games – is recorded by the helmet sensor and becomes part of a database for the player. “It’s been a fantastic program for us and at this point it’s prevented two of our players from playing with concussions that we wouldn’t have caught without the technology,” says Wayde Bymoen, a sports medicine teacher and head coach of the junior football team. The team is using a grant from the University of Alberta to help finance the sensors. Calgary is the only city in Canada using this program. (With files from Heath Brown)
