Let's Spring Into Action And Protect Athletes Ralph Cornwell
is a Ph.D. candidate in health promotion/human performance at
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Prior to
pursuing his Doctoral Degree he was a collegiate strength coach.
Research from the best minds in the automotive safety industry all
agree, the circumference of the neck changes the way it reacts to forces
applied to that area.
The former Congressional appointed Chairman of the Head and Neck Committee put together a study on concussions and found:
" Stronger necks reduce head acceleration, deltaV, and displacement.
Even relatively small reductions in deltaV have a large effect on head
injury criterion that may reduce concussion risks because changes in
deltaV change head injury criterion through the 4th power."
Test dummies are used to simulate a human in a collision whether it is by automobile or playing sports.
How do they simulate neck strength in humans?
They change the size of the spring on the test dummies. Small to
replicate a child’s neck circumference. Medium size for female adults
and large for adult males.
To
simulate an athlete’s neck you have to go one step further. The
athlete’s neck is simulated by the largest and most stiff spring on a
crash dummy in order to replicate the kinematics of a collision
accurately.
The replicated athletic neck is more resistant to change than the
mock-up normal population neck. It deforms less then all the simulated
necks.
This is true for crash test dummies; is it not true for athletes playing sports that include collisions?
By increasing the circumference of our athlete’s necks the same result should occur. Less deformation of the cervical spine.
If
this is good for test dummies, it should be good for America’s athletes
risking concussion during sports. It will certainly lowers the
subconcussive forces.
Congress calls concussions an 'American Epidemic'. Let’s start inoculating our athletes with larger stronger necks.www.concussionpreventionprotocol.com
5 pounds x 10= 75 pounds
225 pounds + 75 pounds = 300 pound max
Once a value is assigned to the repetition based upon the study, in this case 0.0333, a ‘Weight Lifting Percentage Chart’ is constructed for the general population.
To use the chart a weightlifter simply finds his or her maximum along the left side. The weight to workout with is taken from the chart based on the percentage and repetitions they are asked to utilize in their workout plan.
Sample of an athletes instructions from the Coach…
Today we are going to use 75% of our maximum for 10 reps, then 85% of our maximum for 6 reps and 90% for 4 on the bench press. The above chart tells you the weight you should be working out with based on your individual max to Get Strong.
The athlete with a 270 max chooses…
75% – 205 x 10
85% – 230 x 6
90% – 245 x 4
Exactly what these percentages really mean to the muscle tissue is a huge question. Weight Charts can be used as guides, yet to be accurate and take into account individual differences you need to make a chart for every exercise and every individual.
Try this to explore the reasoning of many charts…
Find your one repetition maximum in a multi-joint exercise such as a free weight barbell squat or bench press. Select a percentage such as 65%, 75% or 85% of that maximum and do as many repetitions as possible with that percentage and record your repetitions.
Now select a ‘single-joint‘ exercise such as barbell curl and repeat the test. Whether trained or untrained you will find you achieve fewer repetitions at the same percentage of 1RM with a single-joint movement and more repetitions with a multi-joint movement. In other-words multi -joint and single-joint exercises have different values of a repetition. The amount of muscle mass involved in a multi-joint exercise and the neural system alter the outcome.
If this same test is done with a large group of athletes, say a team, you will get a similar result. You will also find a great deal of variability from athlete to athlete in the data.
Try this also……
Take all your athletes who’s maximum is the same in a particular exercise. Let’s say their maximum is 270 pounds on the bench press. Using 75% of their max in the above chart (205), test the maximum amount of repetitions they can do.
In general, most may achieve 10 reps as indicated on the chart, but you may find an athlete who can only do 6 reps or another who can do 15. Very normal stuff, as we all have different neurological efficiencies. Charts are charts, they set a course. They give direction. Understand that they are not based on the scientific method and each athlete will be effected differently with the recommended weights and repetitions.
The best chart to hang in your weight room is the ‘Effort Chart’. When you go to it, it says…. give a 100% effort to any weight you choose to….. Get Strong.
Every 20 minutes, a different young man enters a small room in Elon University’s Koury Athletic Center looking energetic, and 20 minutes later the same man exits the room dripping and red-faced. These students aren’t shaping their calves on treadmills or curling their biceps – they’re strengthening their necks.
Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the past four weeks, 11 students have been visiting this little room, getting their necks measured and pumping iron with the part of the body few incorporate into their exercise routine. The students are subjects of Ralph Cornwell’s study, “Project Neck,” which researches the effects of consistent neck conditioning, with the goal of preventing damage from concussions.
Cornwell, a Ph.D. candidate in health promotion/human performance at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, is conducting what is — as far as anyone knows — the only study aimed at preventing concussions, instead of fixing them after they occur. His research will also create a neck-strengthening protocol to which Cornwell hopes strength and conditioning coaches will have to adhere in the future.
“This will be the culmination of (my) doctoral dissertation,” said Cornwell. He’s performing his research at Elon because he lives in Greensboro and said, “The atmosphere here is very conducive to learning and experimentation. You get better quality.”
For the dissertation, Cornwell said he will apply the laws of physics to his research’s resulting statistics, and construct a mathematical model that will show the different outcomes of concussion-inducing forces on people who followed his protocol, and those who did not. He said this is the only way to measure the differences without hitting his subjects over the head, which he’s not about to do.
The idea is that the muscles of a strengthened neck will disperse the kinetic energy of a hard force. “The stronger your neck is, the more likely it is to dissipate the energy from a blow,” said Matt Kavalek, Cornwell’s lead research assistant and a sophomore at Elon.
Stronger neck and back muscles would mean increased support, decreasing the odds of a blow jarring the brain inside the skull after a hard blow, which causes a concussion. Cornwell likened strengthened neck and back muscles to an organic “cowboy collar” used by football players for neck support.
Cornwell and Kavalek are already four weeks into the study and are seeing results in the 11 students following the strict protocol Cornwell developed. Three devices are used, two of which are still prototypical, for various exercises focusing on the muscles in the neck or back.
Kavalek said Cornwell worked with anatomists at Wake Forest University to make sure each movement of every exercise has a direct effect on a key neck or back muscle. The exercises include the “tilt,” the “nod,” “laterals,” the “shrug,” the “shrug with head turn,” the “Kelso” and the “Hise shrug.”
But before a study participant launches into his first set of head tilts, Kavalek measures the circumference of his neck, which increases as the muscles gain strength. The study uses only male Elon students, since men aged 18-24 create the best test pool for measurable neck gain, said Cornwell. Since women don’t have the same high testosterone levels as men, their necks wouldn’t get thicker if they did the exercises, and Cornwell’s study needed a physical way to measure progress.
After having his neck measured, the study participant sits in the first prototypical device, a five-way neck machine, and rests the back of his head against a cushion. “It’s the only machine where you can train the muscles in the head and the neck,” said Cornwell. The subject performs the “tilt” and tips his head backward just 25 degrees, which works only the capital muscles — the neck muscles connected to the first two vertebra of the spine — and not the back muscles.
“It’s such a subtle movement, but the back of his head will be on fire,” said Cornwell, as Kavalek counted out 12 repetitions. The subject’s neck is burning because he’s literally lifting weights with his neck. At first, every participant starts each exercise with 10 pounds, but Cornwell increases the weight in increments after the student is able to complete a set with 10 pounds, then 15, and so on.
“We needed a baseline everyone could complete,” said Cornwell. “All the movements are slow and patrolled, so no one gets hurt.” He and Kavalek spot the test subject as he moves onto the “nod,” which is a 10-degree movement forward, as if “you’re acknowledging a friend,” said Cornwell. Then the student performs “laterals,” which is the same movement but to the left and right sides instead of forward.
The next movements, also on the five-way neck machine, target the trapezius – the muscle spanning the neck, shoulders and back, and reaching all the way down to the thoracic (twelfth) vertebrae. The subject performs a “shrug,” and then a “shrug with head turn,” turning the uppermost part of the trapezius, which Cornwell explained happens naturally when you pick up something heavy in a shrug position.
Fifteen seconds after the last set of shrugs, the subject moves to the three-way row machine for the “Kelso,” which is a movement pulling the scapula together and works all the muscles in the back. It’s the movement that test subject Thomas Emery, a sophomore majoring in psychology, said is his least favorite. “You feel it everywhere in your back,” he said.
As Emery fights losing his grips on the machine’s handles during his “Kelso” set, Kavalek cheers him on. “You’re almost there. This is your best set ever. You just need to get angry.” Sweat drips from Emery’s chin as Cornwell moves him to his last movement, the “Hise shrug.” Using squat bar equipment, Emery shrugs with the weighted bar across his back, again targeting his trapezius.
At the end of his training session, Emery is out of breath, which Cornwell said is the norm for most participants. He said he thinks many assumed training one’s neck would be easy, but found out after signing up for the study that it’s not. Kavalek compares the exercises to training a bicep: “If you put (your muscles) against a load, they’re going to get stronger.”
Despite the difficulty, Emery plans to continue neck-strengthening exercises even after the study is completed in another four weeks. And it’s Cornwell’s hope that the exercises Emery and the 10 other Elon students are performing will become part of a protocol required by certifying sports organizations, and will eventually trickle down to the high school and middle school level.
“It’s not an easy protocol by any means,” Cornwell said. But, since no other protocols for preventing concussions exist – in the athletic arena or otherwise – he said, “At least (it will) give them something to go on.”
Project Neck is off and running! Project Neck, now being conducted at Elon University in North Carolina. Test subjects are working hard. The Project Neck Lab consists of two state-of the- art pieces of strength training equipment being provided by Pendulum of Rogers Athletic. We have a compact squat rack and several hundreds of pounds of weight and a olympic bar. Project Neck differs from any other concussive forces study in the fact that this is the only study to ever research the head and neck together. The only study to induce hypertrophy of the capital muscle of the head and neck. The only study to examine neck cylinder size and how that size difference lowers concussive forces. Project Neck’s goal is to build a better dissipator of kinetic energy by anatomical and morphological changes of the musculature of the head and neck through resistance training. Project Neck is a simple study. We want to lower concussive and subconcussive forces.
We believe Project Neck to be a noble cause. Project Neck is the only research study looking at what can be done prior to the concussive episode. If Project Neck’s research helps to lower dangerous forces to the brain through an established protocol we will feel our time to be well spent. A protocol would allow an athlete to prepare for the rigors of his or her sport. Concussions will always be a risk of playing competitive sports and the only cure for concussions is to stop playing sports.
The mission of every sport coach, strength coach or parent should be to protect the athlete first. Project Neck’s research results hope to give coaches and parents the tools to prepare their athletes for competition.
Life has many turning points. Each turning point involves a choice. While they may difficult choosing can be a catalyst for personal growth.
Ralph Cornwell is a Ph.D. candidate in health promotion/human performance at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Prior to pursuing his Doctoral Degree he was a collegiate strength coach.
He is currently developing a protocol for strength training the musculature that protects the cervical spine.
There is no doubt there is a tremendous amount of pressure to win in athletics. People want to be associated with a winner. Alumni, students attending school or fans want their team to be successful.
If the coach does not win his job is at risk. Obviously, coaches are concerned with performance. With pressure, a coach may make an uncharacteristic decision.
I know it may be difficult in such a competitive environment, but decisions must be based on what is best for the athletes who play the game. First and foremost, a coach must be an advocate for the athletes off the field and insure they are physically prepared for competition on the field.
As a young strength coach I came to a crossroad in my career. We like every other staff and team had pressure to win. In the off-season the head football coach examined all aspects of the entire program and looked for ways to improve performance.
The coaches choice for performance enhancement was surprising. I was told to remove the training for the head and neck region of all athletes on the football team and substitute the neck exercises with movements that he felt improved athleticism. He felt that the head and neck training was unneeded and I was to begin to do things that benefited performance.
My staff and I had a meeting that same day and I explained the situation. We voted as a staff to continue training the athletes musculature of the cervical spine. This was vital to their health and safety on the field.
The coach was angry that I did not heed his wishes. I was given an ultimatum. Stop training the head and neck region of the athletes or face termination. I had a muti-year contract that paid well. I was blessed with a great staff to work with. How could I leave such a great situation?
I went home that night and discussed this decision I had to make with my wife. She simply said, “Do what you know is right”.
I resigned the next morning after informing my staff about my decision. Over the next few weeks my entire staff also resigned.
This incident has turned into a positive and a career change. It has led me into extensive study in training the musculature that protects the cervical spine and brain. I, over the next several years will be able to share nationally my findings: which will include not only protection of the athlete through head and neck training, but.... and I must add Increased Athletic Performance.
Ralph Cornwell
is a Ph.D. candidate in health promotion/human performance at
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Prior to
pursuing his Doctoral Degree he was a collegiate strength coach.
Charts are charts, they set a course. They give direction. Understand that they are not based on the scientific method and each athlete will be effected differently with the recommended weights and repetitions.
