Q-Collar tests produce positive results in protecting girl soccer players from concussions

Q-Collar tests are showing positive results on girls high school athletes as well as boys, research shows. The simple-looking experimemntal neck collar is designed to protect athletes from harmful effects of concussions and head impacts.   After testing boys football and hockey players, Cincinnati Children’s put it to the test with the Seton High School soccer team. Dr. Gregory Myer, Director of Research in the Human Performance Lab at Children's, says the Q-Collar creates an “artificial air bag for your head so the brain can't move and slosh when it gets a head impact.” The Q-Collar puts pressure on the jugular restricting the blood flow leaving the brain, but not the blood flow entering the brain, he said. Research data with boys shows the Q-Collar protects the structure and function of the brain from repeated blows, according to Myer.  That prompted the question: Can it help girls? Millie Poehner, a Seton senior, said it helped her.