Surviving Hard Hits

Reported December 2005

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- The hard-hitting sport of football often sends players to the sidelines with injuries. Now, a new, soft material offers better protection for football players, keeping them in the game and off the injured list.

John Sharbaugh, a member of Shippensburg University's football team in Pa., loves the game. "I wouldn't want to be in the world without the sport of football," he says. But loving this rough-and-tumble sport has its downfall; the injured list.

"If you worked so hard to get to that point and then one little injury knocks you out of the season it's a horrible feeling," Sharbaugh says.

Now, players have a new line of defense against injury. Developed by engineers, it's called re-absorb and is a tough, protective material with a soft side. Jeff Hartung, from Impact Innovative Products, Inc. in Manor, Pa., says, "They [football players] can play at 100-percent ability out there on the field and know they are being protected at the same time."

Unlike traditional padding, the putty-like material can be molded into protective gear to fit a player's body and better guard against injury. Rocky Rees, head football coach at Shippensburg University, says, "The kids want to play. They don't want to come off the field. So if we can protect them where they never get injured, we're better off."

On impact, this squishy material hardens and absorbs energy from a hit while dispersing the force evenly through the material. The lightweight, soft padding gives full range of motion, won't slow a player down, shields bruises that beg for padding, and prevents re-injury.

"It allows us to get them back onto the field a little bit sooner than if we didn't have them," says Wesley Mallicone, director of sports medicine at Shippensburg University. Getting back in the game sooner may put a player's mind at ease and might put more points on the scoreboard.

Today, 22 NFL teams currently use the new padding, along with a few high school and college teams using it.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Impact Innovative Products, makers of the SMART PADS:

http://www.zoombang.com

This soft, squishy material in new football pads hardens on impact and keeps players in the game.

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