Virginia Research Day 2022

Undergraduate Student Research Biomedical

02 Correlation Between Helmet Performance And Padding Thickness In Whitewater Kayaking And Rafting

Brock Duma; Mark Begonia; Stefan Duma Corresponding author: brockduma@mcps.org

Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Sciences

Introduction: There are over 6 million people who participate in whitewater kayaking and rafting in the United States every year. Of these 6 million participants, there are more than 50 whitewater related deaths each year, which gives the sport one of the highest fatality risks of all sports. As the popularity in whitewater activities grows, the number of injuries, including concussions, also increases. The objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between padding thickness and whitewater helmet performance.between individual-level risk factors and SR injuries. The outcome from this study will help in developing SR injuries interventions at multiple levels of influence. Methods: The biomechanical performance and risk of head injury of whitewater helmets was evaluated using the fundamental properties of

Results/Conclusions: The linear regression analysis between total padding thickness across all impact locations produced an R value of 0.70. The linear regression between the hard padding thickness and star value produced an R value of 0.79 whereas the correlation between soft padding thickness and star value produced an R value of 0.20. The correlation between total padding thickness and performance is notably high which indicates that the greater the helmet padding thickness, the greater the helmet performance. Hard helmet padding also produced a significantly higher R value than soft padding thickness which indicates that hard padding thickness is most indicative of concussion risk. This data alongside the Whitewater STAR Helmet evaluation system should help guide whitewater manufacturers to greater helmet improvement.

the STAR system. A custom pendulum impactor device was used to test the helmets under conditions which are known to be associated with the highest risk of head injury and death. For the study, 21 helmet models were tested at six different configurations. The helmets were tested at 3.1 m/s and 4.9 m/s with impacts to the front, rear, and side for each speed. Each helmet’s STAR value was calculated with the newly developed Whitewater STAR Equation using the observed linear and rotational head impact acceleration components. Once testing was completed, a bandsaw was used to cut each helmet vertically and horizontally to allow for cross-sectional padding and helmet shell measurements (Figure 1). A caliper was used to measure the hard and soft padding thickness at each impact location.

Figure 1: Cross-section of the Wanderer helmet model

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