The main issue seems to be shock to the brain being sloshed around inside the skull, even neck-snapping type impacts without any contact to the head itself can cause brain injury. The extra helmet padding doesn't do anything to reduce that. Plenty of linemen have been diagnosed with CTE even though their play doesn't involve as much helmet contact or high speed collision.
replyYeah the spread is everyone who plays contact football pretty much. Linemen are basically there to absorb and make leverage though - hands up to the head, neck strains, etc. Its a pretty brutal sport for what it does to people's bodies. Any sport has injuries, and paradoxically all the armor can make the impacts even more powerful and frequent.
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