Could real-time sensors prevent sport injuries?

Many players ages 10-12 years old- are suffering head concussions while playing contact sports, Football, Hockey, Lacrosse, Soccer, Rugby to name a few are all contact sports and involve physical contact. These injuries can result in lifelong impairments.

Could real-time sensors help decrease the amount of physical harm seen in physically demanding sports?

How would you diagnose injuries with real-time sensors?

Daniel Eckert and William Grenis, analysts with PwC, states that research is ongoing within the sports industry to employ sensors in order to be able to  track a players movement to better understand exactly when a player is at risk of injury. Stating “a team doctor could know that a player has a concussion before the player even hits the ground.”

Previously, doctors and team physicians only could react to player injuries, relying on patient feedback, X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans, Eckert and Grenis said. Now, football players’ helmets are being outfitted with the same helmet-based sensors that the U.S. Army uses to analyze head injuries as they happen on the battlefield.

“Six sensors placed in the padding of the helmet can wirelessly transmit a reading to a laptop, where data is collected and analyzed,” the PwC authors said. While the main purpose of these sensors is to understand head injuries so they can be reduced, sports teams have greater plans for the technology. The same sensors can be employed to “improve the health and performance of players by accounting for changes in overall fatigue, changes in heart rate, the favoring of one leg over another, or a drop in hydration levels — all factors that contribute to acute sports injuries.”

 

The sensors are also interactive, “proactively sending signals, unique to the individual wearing the sensors, to trainers, coaches, and doctors,” Eckert and Grenis said.

Real-time sensors beyond sports

Real-time sensor technology is being used to prevent injury and enhance training within the different types of contact sports. It can also be implemented in the workforce in order “to keep employees safe, to enhance their performance, and to improve employee satisfaction,” Eckert and Grenis writes.

“There are nearly three million nonfatal workplace injuries every year. One way employers can reduce those injuries is to use sensors to monitor the musculoskeletal activities of workers and identify improper movements that can cause immediate injury or lead to the development of injuries through repetition over time.”

This real-time immersion can ultimately be extended to virtual reality training and monitoring of employee activities, they add.

General Liability and Accident Medical insurance is critical when playing a contact sport. Workers compensation and Directors and Officers insurance are endorsements that we can add onto your insurance policy.

To find out more about sport and special event insurance contact us at

1-855-351-0202 or email us at [email protected]