Unequal Technologies has held a corner of the sports padding market for some time now. Their Unequal Halo headband made some serious waves in the sports world last summer, and they have developed protective padding for all varieties of helmets and baseball caps.
Now their last piece of sports armor, the HART Chest Protector, has just received a major scientific boost. A medical study published in The Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine revealed that these HART protectors are up to 95 percent effective in preventing the onset of Commotio cordis (cardiac concussion).
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The chest protection is primarily used for baseball catchers and lacrosse goalies, to absord dangerous blows to the chest. Commotio cordis, the leading cause of death in youth baseball, results from a sudden hit to the physical area around the heart, followed by sudden cardiac arrest.
According to the doctor heading the research, Dr. Mark Link, about one-third of all Commotio cordis cases occur with chest protection on, so it is essential that proper padding is in place. In fact, tests on the majority of commercially available chest guards found that there was not a significant difference in preventing Commotio cordis between wearing the protection and not.
This means that Link and his team have successfully tested and scientifically proven the Unequal HART chest protector as the first of its kind to seriously reduce the risk of Commotio cordis.
The study was funded by Unequal, but Link has no stake in the company itself.
Unequal’s HART lacrosse goalie chest protector is $159.95 in their online store, and the catcher’s chest protector is the same price.