Helmets for fitness have seriously evolved in the past 25 years, and while even a decade ago riders in pro cycling didn’t like to wear them, now the helmets are not only required – they are embraced. But there is still a ways to go, and the Swedish developers at MIPS are working on building a better helmet. Because it isn’t just about protecting the head, it is also about protecting the gray matter in side. Niklas Steenberg, CEO of MIPS AB tells where helmet development is “headed.”
KineticShift: Do you think that head injuries in sports have been widely ignored and are only now even being addressed?
Niklas Steenberg: We are of the opinion that safety is not important enough within the general helmet community.
The level of innovation is in general very low and the industry seem stuck within the frames set by certifying criteria. Why change and go beyond? There are of course very good exceptions to this in some very innovative helmet brands with safety as a part of their DNA. They are now moving rapidly to take on all available safety technology and provide maximum safety to their customers.
KS: Additionally, all falls are not the same. Is the way that people are falling and the protection that helmets offer really that important?
NS: This is the only thing important in impact management. However, it is not until recent that science has reached such levels that this is understood and also proven.
The facts are: Today´s helmets are designed, produced and tested to take straight radial hits to the head. Straight 90 degree hits give straight radial energy forces to the brain. The most common type of impact are not straight but angled. Angled impacts give rise to rotational forces to the brain. Rotational forces are the only cause of the most severe type of brain injuries called Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI) and Subdural Helmatoma (SH). So to sum this up, today´s helmets do not protect against the most common type of hits, which creates the most severe type of brain injuries
KS: What is involved in designing a helmet that can protect from different types of falls?
NS: The trick is to mimic the protective properties of the human brain and head.
Your brain, floating in your brain liquid (cerebrospinal fluid) can at an angled impact slide relative your skull and by that re-direct and reduce rotational energy. Available technology, such as MIPS Protection System, will mimic this by adding an extra layer of low friction material on the inside of the helmet, between your head and the helmet liner. At impact, this low friction layer, will slide against the helmet liner, just a small controlled 5-10 mm movement, and by that act as a first line of defense, substantially reducing the damaging rotational forces. So your brain is left with much less damaging energy to deal with.
KS: Are the materials used to make a helmet important as well?
NS: Material used in sports helmets today are pretty standard. It can of course vary in quality but most well known brands and retail chains carry fair to good quality products.
KS: Could this technology in the MIPS be used in contact sports as well, such as American football or Hockey?
NS: Yes, very much so. The way MIPS Protection System is implemented in a helmet it will allow multiple impacts and remain in full function. It will for sure outlive the rest of the helmet.
Thank you to Niklas Steenberg for talking with us.