A study of emergency American football helmet removal techniques.

Purpose: The purpose was to compare head kinematics between the Eject Helmet Removal System and manual football helmet removal.

Basic Procedures: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting. Thirty-two certified athletic trainers (sex, 19 male and 13 female; age, 33 ± 10 years; height, 175 ± 12 cm; mass, 86 ± 20 kg) removed a football helmet from a healthy model under 2 conditions: manual helmet removal and Eject system helmet removal.

Maintaining neutral sagittal cervical alignment after football helmet removal during emergency spine injury management.

Study Design: Descriptive laboratory study.

Objective: To determine whether the placement of padding beneath the occiput after helmet removal is an effective intervention to maintain neutral sagittal cervical spine alignment in a position comparable with the helmeted condition.

Summary Of Background Data: Current on-field recommendations for managing football athletes with suspected cervical spine injuries call for face mask removal, rather than helmet removal, because the combination of helmet and shoulder pads has been shown to maintain neutral cervical alignment.

Prehospital emergency removal of football helmets using two techniques.

Objective: To compare the Eject Helmet Removal (EHR) System with manual football helmet removal.

Methods: This quasiexperimental counterbalanced study was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting. Thirty certified athletic trainers (17 men and 13 women; mean ± standard deviation age: 33.