When it comes to contact sports, player safety is imperative to monitor and mitigate the long-term effects of collisions and impacts. As almost every player in contact sports suffers from head impacts, and roughly 20% sustain a concussion or a traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year, ensuring player safety and welfare is more important than ever. In this article, we’ll discuss how Impact Data Recorders (IDRs) can improve player safety and the importance of IDRs in contact sports.
Real Time Alerts
Impact Detect sensors are extremely small and lightweight sensors (4.5 x 6 x 1.4cm, weighing just 12g) that have been designed to integrate within helmet liners conveniently. The sensor provides real time alerts to the mobile app to inform users and medical staff of impact severity, ensuring players get relevant medical attention straight away. Alerting the relevant parties about details of the impact also ensures that the player gets enough time to recover, before potentially risking the possibility of a second impact.
Continuously Monitoring
Although the sensor continuously monitors for impacts over a set threshold, it also logs minor, repeated impacts that seem minor on the surface, but could cause serious long-term damage if left untreated. It’s not always a single head impact that causes damage; it’s the cumulative impacts over time that can sometimes cause the biggest danger to player safety.
In our recent case study, we dived into how ex-rugby player Steve Thompson suffered from several sub-concussions and memory loss as a result of repeated head injuries. Our research found that 41.4% of young athletes who never had a single catastrophic injury were diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) from an accumulation of repeated minor injuries.
Rule Changes
To improve player safety, leagues can analyse collision data to enforce changes in rules on the field. Importantly, the data collected by the Impact Data Recorder can be used to reveal patterns such as player position, phase of play and tackle information to justify any changes they may enforce to improve player safety.
These changes have already been enforced by requiring medical professionals to review the player after a substantial impact before they can return to play.
Load Management
Team coaches can use Impact Data Recorders to review cumulative stress to adjust training schedules. This allows high-risk players to take the proper rest their body requires to prevent further damage.
Protecting Players on & off the Field
From instant alerts for real time intervention to long-term changes to the game rules, IDRs are shaping player safety from a reactive process to a proactive change. Shop Impact Data Recorders online from the secure payment portal to improve player safety.