UC lab prevents injuries through engineering

Eric Nauman’s lab looks like the kind of place where engineering problems are unravelled and solved.

Students work on novel biomedical and sports-related projects in every corner of the University of Cincinnati’s Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies Lab on the first floor of the Bioscience Center.

There is a wall of hockey, lacrosse and football helmets that students place on sensor-laden dummies to study concussions. A heavy ambulance gurney helps students examine ways to transport premature babies more safely.

And next to the bench is a large wooden platform sloped like a cornhole box. But instead of a hole in the middle for beanbags, it has a sunken well for electronics. Nauman said it’s an artificial pitching mound they use to test the forces that pitchers face when they throw from the mound.

All of these projects and more are designed for one thing.

“We want to prevent injuries as much as possible. But if we can’t prevent them, we have to find a way to repair them,” said Nauman, a professor of biomedical engineering in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science.

This month Nauman gave high school students from across Ohio an introduction to the research questions he and his students are trying to solve in his lab. The students are participating in UC’s annual GE Next Engineers summer camp.

One ongoing project examines flaws in sports equipment to reduce the risk of player concussion. As many as 14% of high school players sustain a concussion, according to federal health figures. That represents a staggering 300,000 players every year.

“What are the symptoms of concussion?” Nauman asked the students. “Poor coordination. Blurry vision. A metallic taste in your mouth. Smell of sulfur or rotten eggs. In extreme cases, your feet or hands will feel itchy for no reason. That’s your brain misinterpreting signals and it’s a sign you need immediate medical attention.”

UC graduate student Sean Bucherl uses a $10,000 modal impulse hammer on a mounted dummy head also loaded with sensors. Bucherl demonstrated the forces registered to a sensor dummy’s head both with and without a helmet.

The helmet reduced the impact recorded by more than two-thirds. 

It’s one thing to batter a helmet with a hammer, but it’s another to determine the forces players incur on the field during games. They hope to answer those questions next. The lab ordered two robotic tackling dummies outfitted with sensors. The moving dummies will simulate realistic collisions with football players on the field.

Nauman designed and built a novel football helmet that uses an interior and exterior shell separated by a spongy material that showed promise in concussion force experiments. He and his students regularly use the makerspace at UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub for their inventions to fashion custom wood, metal or 3D printed parts.

“And duct tape. They don’t tell you that,” Nauman joked.