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Current ice hockey helmets have successfully decreased the incidence of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in the sport; however, concussions are still a major issue (Goodman, D., Gaetz, M., and Meichenbaum, D., 2001). This may be due to helmets not being tested using rotational impacts and rotational measures which can be reflective of concussive impacts (CSA Z262.1-15). Meehan (MSc Thesis, 2019) proposed rotation dominant impacts that reflect concussive events experienced in ice hockey as a potential helmet testing protocol to improve the protective capacity of ice hockey helmets for concussion. The researchers reported a high compliance pneumatic ram test was the test most representative of shoulder to head concussive impacts in professional ice hockey however, it was not as repeatable as the medium compliance pneumatic ram test. For head impacts from falling into the boards, the 45° Anvil Drop test was closest to the mean 44° angle of impact for head to board events in professional ice hockey. These tests haven't been observed using multiple helmet designs to investigate their ability to distinguish between helmet performance. The objectives of this thesis were to 1) determine if the Medium and High Compliance Pneumatic Ram tests and the 45° Anvil Drop test produce different magnitudes of dynamic response and brain tissue strain and 2) determine if the tests have the ability to distinguish changes in helmet design. The Medium Compliance Pneumatic Ram test produced the highest magnitudes of dynamic head response and strain followed by the 45° Anvil Drop and then the High Compliance Pneumatic Ram test. When the helmet designs in each test were compared, the 45° Anvil Drop test reported the most conditions (21) where there were significant differences in the dependent variables between helmets. The Medium Compliance Pneumatic Ram test reported 10 conditions with significant differences detected and the High Compliance Pneumatic Ram test reported 8 conditions with significant differences between helmets. The most sensitive test protocol was the 45° Anvil Drop followed by the Medium Compliance then High Compliance Pneumatic Ram tests. The results showed that all of the tests produced different levels of rotational acceleration and MPS, which supports separate test protocols in terms of helmet testing standards. Information from this thesis can be used by standards organization to guide the development of ice hockey helmet testing standards.

Standards for sports headgear were introduced as far back as the 1960s and many have remained substantially unchanged to present day. Since this time, headgear has virtually eliminated catastrophic head injuries such as skull fractures and changed the landscape of head injuries in sports. Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is now a prevalent concern and the effectiveness of headgear in mitigating mTBI is inconclusive for most sports. Given that most current headgear standards are confined to attenuating linear head mechanics and recent brain injury studies have underscored the importance of angular mechanics in the genesis of mTBI, new or expanded standards are needed to foster headgear development and assess headgear performance that addresses all types of sport-related head and brain injuries. The aim of this review was to provide a basis for developing new sports headgear impact tests for standards by summarizing and critiquing the following: (1) impact testing procedures currently codified in published headgear standards for sports and (2) new or proposed headgear impact test procedures in published literature and/or relevant conferences. Research areas identified as needing further knowledge to support standards test development include defining sports-specific head impact conditions, establishing injury and age appropriate headgear assessment criteria, and the development of headgear specific head and neck surrogates for at-risk populations.