Study Suggests That Some Football Helmets Are More Protective As the scrutiny on head hits has increased in recent years, football helmet manufacturers, no doubt mindful of the potential for product liability suits, have made it clear that their products are designed mainly to prevent skull fractures, not concussions. Some helmets include warning labels that read: "No helmet system can protect you from serious brain and/or neck injuries, including paralysis or death. To avoid these risks, do not engage in the sport of football. A study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery on Friday did not change the prevailing logic that no helmet will ever prevent all concussions. But the findings, which were based on more than 1.2 million head impacts by more than 1,800 players on eight college football teams over six seasons, suggest that certain helmets can reduce the risk of a concussion by more than 50 percent. According to Steve Rowson, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor at Virginia Tech, which has created a helmet rating system, the study was the first to compare players based on the number of times they were hit and the helmets they wore. "Controlling for head impacts allows you to compare apples to apples," he said. For example, you're not comparing a player in one helmet who rarely gets hit to a player in another helmet type who frequently gets hit. The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, the organization that creates standards that helmet manufacturers follow, has disputed Virginia Tech's helmet rating system in the past. In January, though, the organization said it would develop a helmet standard that would require helmets to limit "certain concussion-causing forces." In this study, the researchers compared the Revolution helmet made by Riddell, the country's largest helmet manufacturer, with the VSR4 helmet, which is also made by Riddell. The results showed that players who wore the Revolution were 54 percent less at risk for getting a concussion. The two helmets were chosen partly because of their popularity between 2005 and 2010, when the study was done, but also because they were capable of including the accelerometers used to track head hits. "The point we tried to make is that these two helmets can reduce the risk of concussion," said Stefan Duma, a co-author of the study. It all depends on the way you build the shell, the type of padding you use and other factors. Players at Brown, Dartmouth, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Virginia Tech took part in the study. "At Riddell, improving athlete protection is the foundation of our company," said Erin Griffin, a spokeswoman for Riddell. We are pleased that new information continues to show the value of more advanced helmet technology.