Player Safety
Technology and the Improvement of Player Safety For thousands of years, humans have participated in athletic competitions, ranging from footraces in Ancient Greece to the extremely popular sports in society today. Every year, millions of people play sports competitively, and for a wide variety of reasons: the excitement and drama that comes with competition, the feeling of elation experienced after a victory, or simply the happiness one feels when playing a sport they enjoy. However, sports certainly do not only lead to positive outcomes, and all athletes face certain risks and dangers, regardless of what sport they participate in. One of the most prevalent risks facing athletes is injury. Injuries have always been a part of athletics, however
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In a 2014 study appearing in the Journal of Neurosurgery, experts researched the effectiveness of two football helmets manufactured by Riddell: the older VSR4 model and the newer Revolution model. Over 1800 college football players from eight different schools wore one of these helmet models over the course of a season, and after a period of five years, the resulting data was studied by researchers. Over 1.2 million head impacts were recorded during this period, causing sixty-four players to suffer concussions. However, the majority of those who suffered concussions wore the older model helmet, and after thoroughly studying the data, the researchers were able to conclude that those wearing the newer, more technologically advanced Riddell Revolution helmet faced only 46.1% the risk of concussion that those wearing the older VSR4 model did. This illustrates the positive impact technology can have in preventing injury. As the authors of the article noted, “helmet design may never prevent all concussions from occurring in football, evidence illustrates that it can reduce the incidence of this …show more content…
With advanced medical technology, it has become easier to prevent and diagnose injuries more efficiently than ever before. One major area of development has been in biometric sensors. These sensors are becoming more common among athletes in a wide variety of sports, but in particular sports like basketball and soccer. Biometric sensors can measure many important biological statistics, such as an athlete's heart and respiration rates, hydration level, fatigue, and more. This information can be crucial is recognizing when an injury could occur before it actually does. For example, Stephen Magness, who coaches the cross-country team at the University of Houston, explained that “[w]e want to know how things change with fatigue, so we compare the beginning of a workout to the end, when there is a higher risk of injury occurring … If we see [the] signs of fatigue, then we might change the workload to avoid injury” (Spinks 1). As evidenced by Magness, sensor technology can be used to recognize when an athlete faces a higher risk of injury, which would allow that athlete's coach or trainer to modify their workload to mitigate this risk. If sensors were put into widespread use, thousands of injuries of varying severity could potentially be prevented, as over-training and fatigue are two common causes of injury. Additionally, the measurements made by these sensors can help training staffs
In a 2014 study appearing in the Journal of Neurosurgery, experts researched the effectiveness of two football helmets manufactured by Riddell: the older VSR4 model and the newer Revolution model. Over 1800 college football players from eight different schools wore one of these helmet models over the course of a season, and after a period of five years, the resulting data was studied by researchers. Over 1.2 million head impacts were recorded during this period, causing sixty-four players to suffer concussions. However, the majority of those who suffered concussions wore the older model helmet, and after thoroughly studying the data, the researchers were able to conclude that those wearing the newer, more technologically advanced Riddell Revolution helmet faced only 46.1% the risk of concussion that those wearing the older VSR4 model did. This illustrates the positive impact technology can have in preventing injury. As the authors of the article noted, “helmet design may never prevent all concussions from occurring in football, evidence illustrates that it can reduce the incidence of this …show more content…
With advanced medical technology, it has become easier to prevent and diagnose injuries more efficiently than ever before. One major area of development has been in biometric sensors. These sensors are becoming more common among athletes in a wide variety of sports, but in particular sports like basketball and soccer. Biometric sensors can measure many important biological statistics, such as an athlete's heart and respiration rates, hydration level, fatigue, and more. This information can be crucial is recognizing when an injury could occur before it actually does. For example, Stephen Magness, who coaches the cross-country team at the University of Houston, explained that “[w]e want to know how things change with fatigue, so we compare the beginning of a workout to the end, when there is a higher risk of injury occurring … If we see [the] signs of fatigue, then we might change the workload to avoid injury” (Spinks 1). As evidenced by Magness, sensor technology can be used to recognize when an athlete faces a higher risk of injury, which would allow that athlete's coach or trainer to modify their workload to mitigate this risk. If sensors were put into widespread use, thousands of injuries of varying severity could potentially be prevented, as over-training and fatigue are two common causes of injury. Additionally, the measurements made by these sensors can help training staffs