ISSUE F
44 LACROSSE MAGAZINE » May 2016
A HEADY
or decades there has been discussion about the protective equipment used in women’s lacrosse as compared to men’s
lacrosse. Ann Kitt Carpenetti, US Lacrosse vice president of lacrosse operations, weighs in on the debate.
Bullis (Md.) girls’ lacrosse (below) self-mandated headgear in 2012. Florida high school players (right) started wearing protective headbands in response to an FHSAA mandate before the 2015 season.
WHY DOESN’T WOMEN’S LACROSSE REQUIRE HELMETS LIKE MEN’S LACROSSE?
Helmets, as used in football, ice hockey and men’s lacrosse have been designed and are used to primarily mitigate impacts caused by body-to body impacts and address skull fractures and catastrophic head injuries that result from those mechanisms. They are not designed to prevent concussions. The injury surveillance research collected and published by medical experts on US Lacrosse’s Sports Science & Safety Committee, as well as by the 10-year NFHS injury surveillance program (RIO), have shown us that while concussions do occur in women’s lacrosse, skull fractures and head injuries are not seen in the women’s game as intentional body-to-body contact is not legal in women’s lacrosse. Studies have also shown us that the focal impacts and energy forces created when sticks and balls hit the head are not equivalent to the impact forces and rotational impacts created when a 250-pound man runs full speed across a lacrosse or football field into the body or head of another man.
editor’s note
The products depicted in this article do not meet the ASTM performance standard. Several manufacturers are currently developing headgear in compliance with the standard to be released in time for the 2017 season.
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©JOHN STROHSACKER
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