Did you know that the University of Kansas football team is trying new technology to check for sports related concussions? The Jayhawks will be among the first college football teams in the country to use impact-sensing mouthguards this spring, when they are practicing for the upcoming fall season. The mouthguards allow the trainers to monitor hits taken by individual players in real-time and collect data to reveal trends across an entire season for the whole team.
The technology is still relatively uncharted – the mouthguards, tested at high schools and one other college, are being sold commercially for the first time this spring, according to the manufacturer. They sell for $199 apiece. They’re made from a newly licensed durable material that’s supposed to last one year. Murphy Grant, KU’s assistant athletics director for sports medicine, takes the concussion issue seriously and said he’s excited to have the university’s support for giving the mouthguards a try.
To be clear, the mouthguards can’t diagnose concussions – that’s for training and medical staff to do. What they can do is measure impact to a player’s head and send a digital alert to coaches and trainers when someone’s taken a hit hard enough to cause a concussion. The mouthguards may be high-tech, but the good news is that football players don’t have to do anything they wouldn’t do with any old mouthguard. They pop it in and out of their mouth at will, Harper said, and the mouthguard does the rest – even sensing when to turn off and on. The mouthguards’ “ESP Chip Technology” measures the brain’s linear and rotational accelerations from impacts, according to i1 Biometrics. The mouthguards use an algorithm to measure, translate and wirelessly transfer data to a handheld mobile device used by trainers on the sidelines. The data can show the magnitude, location and direction of the impact.
KU football and other sports have not been immune to concussions. A former KU player has sued the NCAA seeking an undetermined amount of damages for himself and athletes who suffered head trauma during their college careers. Concussions forced star running back Tony Pierson to sit out games in 2013 and limit his time in the position last season. More than one KU basketball player has taken to the sidelines after hits to the head, too.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article10460855.html#storylink=cpy