The Pennsylvania-based sports safety equipment company, Unequal Technologies, is hoping to be the first company to effectively help prevent Commotio cordis. A study conducted by Tufts Medical Center and Mark Link, MD said, “Unequal HART protection is the only effective chest protector I have seen that has the potential to significantly reduce the risk of sudden death from Commotio cordis.”
Unequal Technologies has been manufacturing high tech safety products and equipment for eight years. They have grabbed more than a few headlines for their Halo headband: The protective headgear worn by U.S. Women’s Soccer start, Ali Krieger, helps prevent concussions. But the Halo is just one of a slew of Unequal products. Their HART protection line features baseball catcher and lacrosse goalie chest protectors, shirts and pads. All of these products were designed to help prevent deaths caused by sudden cardiac arrest.
Commotio cordis is often deadly, occurring when a heart’s rhythm is disrupted during a critical time of the cycle, as the result of a powerful blow to the area of the chest near the heart. It generally occurs in people under the age of 14, and is prevalent in baseball –where it is the number one cause of on-the-field deaths – and lacrosse.
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With so many kids playing youth baseball, lacrosse and hockey already wearing expensive protective equipment one would think these deaths occur when the proper equipment isn’t being worn. But 33 percent of Commotio cordis deaths occur even when the athletes wear protective gear.
Unequal Technologies’ HART equipment utilizes technology similar to body armor worn by the U.S. military. Four separate layers are used in their protective padding equipment, which help block and redirect the impact of a blow to the chest area surrounding the heart.
Their HART equipment is priced rather competitively considering the powerful safety claims sited in the Tufts’ study. With so much of the sports safety conversation revolving around concussions in football, these more rare heart failures draw far less attention. With only roughly 10 to 20 Commotio cordis cases occurring annually in the United States, it is a small-scale problem with a new potentially large-scale solution.