Head injuries have become a serious concern in numerous sports, and Bauer Hockey is taking the issue head on so speak by revisiting the way helmets take hits. While most helmets are designed to address linear impacts a bigger risk says a Bauer study is the rotational forces that can contribute to head injuries.
Bauer’s RE-AKT helmet is the first hockey-specific helmet designed to manage the multiple type of hits that players take including rotational-force impacts, which have been scientifically proven to cause significant head injuries. To address this issue the Bauer RE-AKT takes on the problem with the SUSPEND-TECH liner, a unique patent-pending rotational impact protection system to protect the head from excessive rotational acceleration when the helmet is impacted.
This liner is designed of a super-light pliable material called PORON XRD Extreme Impact Protection, and offers the ability to dissipate extreme force that the wearer might take. The free-floating stretchable liner also is unique in that it moves completely independently from the rest of the helmet, which reportedly better manages the rotational forces. In addition the helmet also utilizes Bauer’s Vertex foam, which is a lightweight multi-impact material that can help lessen the impact when compared to other EPP foams. Combined the Bauer RE-AKT, which has been two years in development, will manage multiple types of hits from low-energy impacts to high-energy impacts and even rotational impacts.
The Bauer RE-AKT should hit the ice later this season, and from the sound of it the helmet could be hitting back.