Advanced Bicycle Helmet Technology for Prevention of Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury TBI is an acquired neurological disorder that can cause long lasting disability with limited treatment options Therefore preventative strategies must be emphasized in high risk activities to reduce the individual and societal burden of this pervasive injury Bicycle activities account for of all sports related TBI with over annual injuries in the US In an effort to alleviate the incidence and severity of these head injuries helmet usage is now recommended and in some states mandatory However contemporary bicycle helmets are not designed to mitigate rotational head acceleration which is a clear physical mechanism of TBI A novel helmet using High Impact Velocity Engineering HIVE technology has been developed that combines a proprietary cellular liner with an innovative suspension technique to provide superior energy absorption in a lightweight and cost effective design This advanced impact management system absorbs torsional and normal impact loads and thus enables HIVE helmets to provide an unprecedented level of protection from linear and rotational head accelerations STTR Phases I and II delivered conclusive evidence on the feasibility and performance of HIVE technology HIVE prototype helmets yielded a reduction in rotational head acceleration corresponding to a reduction in predicted TBI risk compared to standard bicycle helmets This application seeks support for late stage development and technical assistance required to commercialize HIVE bicycle helmets Timely commercialization of HIVE helmets is an urgent matter to decrease the incidence and severity of TBI among the over million people in the US that regularly ride a bicycle There are over bicycle related traumatic brain injuries TBI that occur annually in the U S with an associated societal cost of $ billion per year Bicycle helmets should offer a preventative strategy to reduce bicycle related TBI However contemporary bicycle helmets are not engineered to attenuate rotational head acceleration a primary cause of TBI A strategy is proposed for commercialization of a new helmet technology that absorbs rotational head acceleration and that likely will reduce the high incidence of bicycle related TBI