Head and brain injuries are some of the most dangerous and long lasting sports injuries. These are especially common in contact sports like football and hockey where players regularly collide with several hundred pounds of force or crash into hard, unforgiving surfaces.  To prevent injuries in sports like these, players must wear football and hockey helmets that are well designed, properly constructed and sturdy enough to protect a player's head from impact. Also, catcher's masks have to be especially sturdy to prevent injuries from baseballs traveling at more than 90 miles per hour.

Hockey players can suffer eye and head injuries if the opening of their face mask is wide enough to allow the blunt end of an opponent's stick to enter the mask.  The injuries resulting from defective helmets and masks often have a domino effect, quickly putting other highly sensitive and delicate organs like the brain and spine at risk.  Damage to the brain and spine are some of the most catastrophic of all sports related injuries and can alter a player's quality of life forever. 

Types of Injuries from Defective Masks and Helmets

Head injuries that result from wearing a defective helmet or face mask can range from various forms of concussions and contusions, to traumatic brain injury of varying stages.  A concussion can result in loss of consciousness and amnesia. If the state of unconsciousness is prolonged, the state of amnesia continues, or a scan reveals abnormalities, the person may need immediate treatment to ensure that no long term damage is sustained. 

Cervical spine injuries can lead to paralysis, weakness in one side of the body, or in the worst case scenario, quadriplegia. These kinds of injuries have decreased since the technique of spearing in American football (in which a player uses his head as the first point of contact with an opponent's body) was banned in 1975.  That ban, combined with improvements in helmet technologies, has greatly contributed to the reduced frequency of such injuries.

Eye injuries and face injuries can also result if defective helmets or masks are used. 

Several of the most reputed sporting goods manufacturers in the world, including Reebok, have been held accountable in civil courts for injuries arising from defective face and head gear.