“Woodpeckers don’t play football” – new viewpoints on concussion prevention in sports

A newly published editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine draws attention to what it calls the ‘misguided’ use of commercial devices that are intended reduce so-called ‘Brain Slosh’ by compressing the jugular veins of sportpersons – with the idea of mitigating the risks of concussion. “Unfortunately” the authors say, “this woodpecker-inspired concept is misguided for numerous reasons.” And they give no less than five reasons why. For example :

“Woodpeckers do not use jugular occlusion. Proponents of jugular venous compression claim that woodpeckers contract their omohyoid muscle to occlude the jugular vein during pecking, and replicating this mechanism in humans has potential value for brain protection. Although this claim is commonly cited in promotional material and mainstream coverage as a fact or recent discovery, it is not actually described or hypothesised anywhere within the woodpecker literature.”

See : ‘Woodpeckers don’t play football: implications for novel brain protection devices using mild jugular compression‘.

Note : The 2006 Ig Nobel Prize for Ornithology was awarded to Ivan R. Schwab, of the University of California Davis, and the late Philip R.A. May of the University of California Los Angeles, for exploring and explaining why woodpeckers don’t get headaches.

The photo : Shows the ‘Q Collar’ from Q30innovations , which is cited in the editorial.