The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates the yearly incidence of mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) at approximately 1.2 million cases in the United States alone. Approximately 1/3 of these injuries occur in football. The Principal Objective of this NIH Phase IIb SBIR project is to expand the utility of the current, and now commercially available, InSite impact alert monitoring system developed in Phase I/Phase II to integrate long-term player specific head impact exposure tracking for identifying both at- risk impacts (i.e. on-field alerting) and high-risk behavior (i.e. poor tackling technique). Brain injur is difficult to see, particularly on the field. We have successfully developed a sideline tool that can identify atypical impacts or series of impacts in the field that can be used to trigger management of concussion on the sideline. What is currently lacking is the ability to identify high-risk behavior that may eventually lead to concussion. The proposed technology and innovation will reduce head impact exposures at all playing levels resulting in lower concussion risk.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates the yearly incidence of mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) at approximately 1.2 million cases in the United States alone. Approximately 1/3 of these injuries occur in football. mTBI is a major source of lost player time. Head injuries accounted for 13.3% of all football injuries to boys and 4.4% of all soccer injuries to both boys and girls in a large study of high school sports injuries. Approximately 62,800 mTBI cases occur annually among high school varsity athletes, with football accounting for about 63% of cases. Concussions in hockey affect 10% of the athletes and make up 12%-14% of all injuries. 4-6 concussions occur per year in a football team of 90 players (7%), and 6 per year from a hockey team with 28 players (21%). mTBI has been recognized as a major public health issue and much emphasis has been put on proper treatment and prevention. The NIH and CDC have declared that reducing the incidence, severity, and post-injury symptomology of mTBI is a national research priority. Concussions, particularly when repeated, threaten the long-term health of the athlete. The health care costs associated with mTBI in sports are estimated to be in the hundreds of millions annually.
