Waterloo startup develops athletic shirt to help prevent concussions
Brothers use personal experience to innovate
WATERLOO — Rob Corrigan feels lucky to be alive.
A decade ago, the Kitchener native suffered a serious scare when he was rocked by an opponent while playing hockey for Ridley College, a private school in St. Catharines.
“I was hit in open ice,” the 27year-old said. “Apparently, I did a back flip in the air and was unconscious for about 30 seconds. It was a pretty big hit.”
“Honestly, if it wasn’t for the (safety) protocols that they had in place … I think my story would be C MY very different today.”
Older brother Charles had a similar experience.
The one-time Kitchener Jr. Rangers hockey player has suffered four sports-related concussions, including a whopper when he was just 17.
“The effect it had on me was pretty profound,” the 34-year-old said. “I really found that after that concussion, which was my most severe, that my cognitive process had slowed. It was almost six years before I actually felt sort of back to normal.”
Those experiences helped motivate the siblings, who run the
Waterloo startup Advanced Exoskeletal Systems (AEXOS), to invent a piece of protective equipment that can help reduce whiplash and concussion-related injuries.
And after three and a half years of research, tests and designs, the Corrigans have officially launched Halo — a compression shirt, they say, is like no other on the market.
Halo marries safety, comfort and functionality and is aimed at athletes who play contact sports such as hockey and football, but it can also be used by skiers and motorsport drivers, among others.
At first glance, it looks like a standard compression shirt that is worn under equipment, but Halo also has a protective collar that supports the back of the neck and stiffens on impact.
“The way the material is made is that the harder and faster you try to deform it, the more it resists deformation,” said Charles Corrigan. “The material doesn’t go rigid, it just stiffens up enough to slow everything down.”
The shirt has been endorsed by injury prevention advocates Safe4Sports and has been tested by the Canadian Department of National Defence as well as the University of Waterloo’s Impact Mechanics Lab.
Members of Wilfrid Laurier University’s football team, the Canadian military and other professional athletes are also testing Halo.
“I can’t say enough good things about it,” said Waterloo native Steve Lorentz, a Carolina Hurricanes prospect that spent this past season with the ECHL’s Florida Everblades.
“I took a few hits up against the glass (with the shirt on) and my head didn’t snap back or forward. The shirt was doing its job. It didn’t restrict me at all and was nice to wear.”
Preorders are available through AEXOS’ Kickstarter campaign, while the company plans to have Halo shirts hit the market by October with a suggested retail price of $190.
“Our goal is to get this into as many people’s hands as quickly as possible through whatever channels we can,” said Rob Corrigan.