Too many injuries
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Don Frye" data-cid="576285" data-time="1462155678">
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<p>Headgear is basically useless in terms of concussion. <strong>It's doing nothing</strong> to reduce the impact of the brain colliding against the inside of the skull.<br><br>
It's good for preventing cuts, grazes and cauliflowers.</p>
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Of course it is. Headgear means lower deceleration: skull starts slowing down from when the foam part initially hits something immovable, and is spread out over longer distance as the foam deforms on impact. So change in velocity happens over a longer time. </p>
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<p>Lower deceleration of the skull means lower deceleration of the fluid and brain inside, which means the brain hits the skull with less force, or maybe not at all.<br><br>
Think of a car (skull) hitting a wall (opposition 2nd 5's knee) with no crumple zone - the person (brain) inside turns to mush. Same car with a well-engineered crumple zone (headgear); impact between person and front of car is less.</p> -
<p>I guess that's true at an absolute level TeWaio but is it actually effective enough to make a difference? I've no idea BTW.</p>
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<p>One of the things with injuries these days is that, anecdotally anyway, we seem to see a lot more muscular and ligament type injuries. I heard some medico a while back postulating that this is due to the greatly increased weight and muscularity of the players but that this does not translate into significantly stronger joints and ligaments. Sort of, if you've got a guy that is genetically pre-disposed to be 100kg and he bulks up to 120kg, then he's running around with 20% more weight than his joints are genetically designed to carry. Sure, you can build up the muscle around your joints but the actual mechanism itself is not going to be improved. Again I've no idea of the validity of this but it seems logical.</p> -
<p>Yeah, finding out the magnitude of difference is what the accelerometer data will show I guess.<br><br>
The above comment about head protection making people gung-ho to the point of a net effect of greater danger is a valid one. I read somewhere that ski resorts that made helmets compulsory saw injury rates increase to a statistically significant level after the fact. </p>
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<p>You point about more ligament/joint injuries due to higher mass is a good one. In basic physical terms, mass scales with length cubed, while area (i.e. what supports the mass / withstands the forces) scales with length squared. It's the same reason why people over 7.5 feet tall are basically disabled, and why elephants can't jump. You can increase your mass pushing tin, but you can't increase the cross sectional area of your bones/ligaments/joints (just strengthen them, slightly - but not to the same extent as your muscles).</p> -
Interesting article from The Guardian re Corbisiero's voluntary sabbatical.<br><br>
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/05/alex-corbisiero-rugby-union-england-lions'>http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/05/alex-corbisiero-rugby-union-england-lions</a> -
<p>I remember reading an article earlier this year after Naholo sent that Auckland fullback flying, someone measured the impact as being like being hit by a car. When he marked Jamie Roberts in the midfield the year before it as 125kg against 110kg.....just bloody monsters playing the game nowadays.</p>
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<p>Kudos to Mike Catt and other comparative midgets at least trying their best to stop Jonah back in the day.</p>
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<p>TeWaio I agree with some of that but it doesn't explain how short ( and in some cases not particularly stocky ) Olympic weightlifters can snatch ( haha, snatch ) many times their weight overhead. Sure they have the genetics but so much of that is down to training and strengthening those ligaments.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Bones" data-cid="578289" data-time="1462770577">
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<p>Naholo? More from the "they all look the same" shelf.</p>
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<p>That's an astonishingly astute call first thing in the morning.</p>
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<p>Naholo has a rats tail, Nadolo has the Peter Garrett look. Both can run fast. Easy mistake to make though.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="578266" data-time="1462766728">
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<p>I remember reading an article earlier this year after Naholo sent that Auckland fullback flying, someone measured the impact as being like being hit by a car. When he marked Jamie Roberts in the midfield the year before it as 125kg against 110kg.....just bloody monsters playing the game nowadays.</p>
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<p>Kudos to Mike Catt and other comparative midgets at least trying their best to stop Jonah back in the day.</p>
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<p>TeWaio I agree with some of that but it doesn't explain how short ( and in some cases not particularly stocky ) Olympic weightlifters can snatch ( haha, snatch ) many times their weight overhead. Sure they have the genetics but <strong>so much of that is down to training and strengthening those ligaments.</strong></p>
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I agree....as I said:<br>
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<p> </p>
<span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">bones/ligaments/joints (just strengthen them, slightly - but not to the same extent as your muscles)</span></blockquote>
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<p>Olympic weightlifting is a little different as the biomechanics mean the full weight of the bar is only being supported in "strong" positions, i.e. at the end with arms full locked, or in the drive phase where legs/core are pushing the hips forward to get it accelerating upwards, or in the catch where the bar is sitting on the collarbone. So in a successful lift at no point is there huge force on a ligament or joint from a funny angle. Whereas in rugby the force/loading could come from nearly any random direction at any time. </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="TeWaio" data-cid="578359" data-time="1462781656">
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<p>I agree....as I said:<br>
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<p> </p>
<p>Olympic weightlifting is a little different as the biomechanics mean the full weight of the bar is only being supported in "strong" positions, i.e. at the end with arms full locked, or in the drive phase where legs/core are pushing the hips forward to get it accelerating upwards, or in the catch where the bar is sitting on the collarbone. So in a successful lift at no point is there huge force on a ligament or joint from a funny angle. Whereas in rugby the force/loading could come from nearly <strong>any random direction at any time. </strong></p>
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<p>Which I guess explains why broken bones sometimes happens if they fuck up a lift.</p> -
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="TeWaio" data-cid="578382" data-time="1462789935">
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<p>Yep, they're lifting so much more than a bone/joint/ligament is able to bear in the "wrong" position that you can get some horrendous injuries. Fortunately they're pretty rare though. YouTube "weight lifting fails" if you're strong of stomach. </p>
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<p>I do the odd power clean every now and again and would hate to fuck it up. Whilst strength is obviously important technique and co-ordination would be more so for those Olympic guys I'd imagine.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="TeWaio" data-cid="576679" data-time="1462282120"><p>
Of course it is. Headgear means lower deceleration: skull starts slowing down from when the foam part initially hits something immovable, and is spread out over longer distance as the foam deforms on impact. So change in velocity happens over a longer time. <br><br>
Lower deceleration of the skull means lower deceleration of the fluid and brain inside, which means the brain hits the skull with less force, or maybe not at all.<br><br>
Think of a car (skull) hitting a wall (opposition 2nd 5's knee) with no crumple zone - the person (brain) inside turns to mush. Same car with a well-engineered crumple zone (headgear); impact between person and front of car is less.</p></blockquote>
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Sorry, virtually nothing.<br><br>
Your comparison with a "well-engineered crumple zone" and headgear that has a maximum thickness of 10mm and then might only compress as little as 2 to 3mm, is a massive stretch.<br><br>
Considering the considerable g forces involved, a 2 or 3mm give IS virtually nothing. -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Don Frye" data-cid="578476" data-time="1462840464">
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<p>Sorry, virtually nothing.<br><br>
Your comparison with a "well-engineered crumple zone" and headgear that has a maximum thickness of 10mm and then might only compress as little as 2 to 3mm, is a massive stretch.<br><br>
Considering the considerable g forces involved, a 2 or 3mm give IS virtually nothing.</p>
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<p>these guys agree with you Don:</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10834129'>http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10834129</a></p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19127196'>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19127196</a></p>
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<p>Edit:</p>
<p>and the money quote from the Herald</p>
<p><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Calibri, Candara, Segoe, 'Segoe UI', Optima, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:16px;">"The thing with headgear is that it doesn't stop the brain banging against the skull from the inside. All it does is provide a little bit of padding on the outside."</span></p> -
<p>yep, wore headgear to avoid cuts and damaging my beautiful ears when playing front row. Didn't see it offering anything to ward against concussion.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Don Frye" data-cid="578476" data-time="1462840464">
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<p>Sorry, virtually nothing.<br><br>
Your comparison with a "well-engineered crumple zone" and headgear that has a maximum thickness of 10mm and then might only compress as little as 2 to 3mm, is a massive stretch.<br><br>
Considering the considerable g forces involved, a 2 or 3mm give IS virtually nothing.</p>
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<p>
Right, but its not nothing, which you said. That's the point I was trying to make with the crumple zone analogy.</p>