Football players can get hit thousands of times throughout a season. The unanswered question is how hard is too hard, especially for high school athletes.

Steve Broglio, assistant professor in AHS, is conducting research attempting to measure the amount of force it takes for a high school football player to receive a concussion.

“The suggestion from NFL research is that it takes 98 g’s (g-force, a unit of measurement to express acceleration) to cause a concussion,” he said. “I think a high school athlete is going to have a lower magnitude than NFL players.”

Broglio is also studying which part of the head would be most likely to cause a concussion if hit.

“We can then make suggestions to equipment manufacturers to improve equipment,” Broglio said. “We can say to put more padding in areas to reduce damage.”

Broglio is conducting his research at Unity High School in Tolono, just south of Savoy. During the varsity team’s games and practices, he is on the sidelines, recording the hits members of the team give or take. Every player on the team has sensors in their helmets, which record the number of hits received, the location of the hit on the skull and the force of the impact.

The program has helped Unity’s football coach, Scott Hamilton, as well. The coach has used Broglio’s readings to determine if a certain player took a hard hit out on the field.

“It alerts us, which in turn will alert a trainer, for us to keep an eye on our athletes,” Hamilton said.

It is still unclear if there is a constant force that will cause players to get a concussion, Broglio said. It may be unique for each person.

“Is there a set special for everyone, or does everyone have their own threshold?” said Jerrad Zimmerman, medical director of sports medicine at Carle Foundation Hospital. “That’s what they’re trying to see.”

Zimmerman often cares for players who receive concussions from hits on the field. This football season, five Unity players have suffered concussions. Zimmerman said the recorded hit was not 98 g’s for all five who received a concussion.

This research can also help to see if getting hit in high school hinders players later in their career. There are players in the NFL who suffer concussions more frequently than others, Zimmerman said.

“Maybe the problems with players getting concussions started earlier,” Zimmerman said. “About half of all concussions are never reported to a medical professional.”

Broglio said he hopes to continue doing his research with Unity beyond this season. While there are college teams participating in similar studies, there are only a handful of high school teams serving as subjects for the research.