X2 Impact, a Seattle-based sports injury solutions company, has provided the Stanford University football team with a bunch of high-tech football mouthpieces that are made to measure head injuries during games and practices.
These football mouthpieces, which are equipped with tiny sensors, contribute to the understanding of concussions and how they are caused, says TechNewsDaily. Through the use of accelerometers and gyrometers, the mouthpieces measure the force of linear and rotational impact to the head. This allows researchers and coaches to better grasp which football positions or plays carry greater risk of traumatic brain injury. Data from the devices are transmitted to computers, which are monitored by the football team's head trainer during games and practices.
Currently, researchers do not know where a head's "concussion zone" is. Thus, these football mouthpieces offer insight into the correlations between force and location of impact.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Smart Mouthguards
- The use of smart mouthguards equipped with sensors to measure head injuries creates an opportunity to improve concussion care and prevention.
- Sports Injury Prevention
- Innovative technology that tracks data from high-impact sports has great potential to help prevent and reduce sports-related injuries.
- Real-time Data Analysis
- The real-time data analysis of smart mouthguards can provide critical information for coaches, medical staff, and researchers to make informed decisions about concussion prevention and treatment.
Where This Applies
- Sports Technology
- The sports technology industry can benefit greatly from developing and integrating more smart devices like mouthguards to better monitor concussion risk.
- Healthcare
- The healthcare industry can incorporate smart mouthguards as a tool to improve concussion care and develop new methods of diagnosis and treatment.
- Athletic Training
- Athletic trainers and coaches can leverage real-time data analysis from smart mouthguards to better understand the risk factors for concussion and inform their training programs.
