JERSEY SHORE, Pa. — Jersey Shore Area football players will soon have access to protective devices that fit around the neck.
The school district approved the order of a device called the Q-Collar at a meeting earlier this week.
The FDA-approved equipment is designed to protect the brain from repeated hits to the head.
"Repetitive head impacts, it doesn't take much movement or impact to suffer that, but the consequences could be just as severe, if not more dire," said Dr. Wayne Olan, director of interventional and endovascular neurosurgery at George Washington University in Washinton D.C.
Dr. Olan says the collar applies jugular compression to increase blood flow to the brain area.
"Your head functions kind of like a garbage can. It is a very simple analogy: Your brain is in the garbage bag, but we can gently fill up that space between the bag and the can, so the inside of the bag can't move around anymore. That is what it does. It is like putting an extra airbag or padding inside your skull to keep your brain from moving around at impact."
The owners of the Clinton County-based Pine Creek Seed Farm donated 40 Q-Collars to the Jersey Shore Area School District. This comes two weeks after football player Max Engle collapsed on the football field and later died. The coroner says his cause of death was a traumatic brain injury.
Dr. Olan believes more schools should invest in Q-Collars.
"It is the safest thing and easiest thing you can do to protect what is most important. Try it."
The Q-Collar has only been commercially available since 2021. A two-year study conducted by the University of Cincinnati Children's Hospital showed that 77 percent of the collar-wearing athletes did not have significant changes to the white matter of the brain, while 73 percent of the non-collar-wearing athletes had significant changes.
"This is available. It is easy to use, safe to use, and it doesn't impact how you play. There is no change in how you play."
The Jersey Shore Area School District is awaiting the arrival of the Q-Collar order. If you would like to learn more about the Q-Collar and its technology, you can get more information here.