Revolutionizing Sports: Wearable Technology Transforming Athlete Performance Level
In the gritty, demanding world of college sports, technology is stepping up to the plate and delivering some serious game-changing benefits. Take Lehigh University's football team, for instance, who had a season turned sour when one player tore their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). But thanks to a much-needed partner in the form of wearable technology, this player was back on the field in half the time originally anticipated.
Enter Dhruv Seshadri, an assistant professor of bioengineering at Lehigh, who's leading a study involving wearable tech that's helping athletes recover like never before. Hundreds of student-athletes at Lehigh, including the football team, are taking part in this study, which is not only speeding up their return after injuries but also providing invaluable data to guide rehabilitation programs and prevent overuse injuries.
Wearable tech has gotten a mention on the field and in the gym in recent years, and it's no surprise. These devices pack a punch, provisioning GPS trackers, blood oxygen saturation monitors, heart rate monitors, motion sensors, and muscle oxygen sensors, giving coaches and trainers a wealth of information about an athlete's performance.
In the case of Lehigh's Head Football Coach, Kevin Cahill, muscle oxygen sensors were utilized to monitor the injured player's recovery, enabling Seshadri's team to craft a rehabilitation plan that had the player back in the game in just six to seven months. ACL injuries have unfortunately become more common, and this speedy recovery is a considerable advantage.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are now being applied to wearable tech to translate data into something actionable, such as how athletes are performing over time, how they compare to their position groups, and how they're keeping pace with their teammates.
While the terms of Seshadri's study protect the identity of the students participating, coaches like Cahill are all aboard the wearable tech bandwagon. These coaches claim it's fostered a friendly competition among teammates keen to compare stats, improved performance, and - most crucially - prevented injury and guided rehabilitation.
Seshadri's team is also conducting one of the few studies examining muscle-oxygen saturation as a biomarker to rehabilitate athletes following ACL reconstruction. With more data, they hope to help forecast and assess an athlete's progress at different time points, ensuring their highest level of performance while helping them avoid injury.
Before wearable tech was common, coaches used to make training decisions based on what they observed on the field, often guessing at the athletes' condition. Now, with data in hand, they can establish baseline readings, collect stats before, during, and after the season to track performance over time, and make smarter, healthier decisions.
Coaches have also gained valuable insights into the factors contributing to injuries, such as over-training, muscle imbalances, and strength discrepancies between muscle groups. With wearable tech, they can now track and adjust training routines accordingly.
The application of wearable tech doesn't stop at sports. Seshadri is studying the impact it could have on hospital patients, particularly in non-invasive monitoring. Part of this process involves developing user-friendly analytics to help practitioners interpret data and make informed decisions.
The work with women athletes is particularly crucial, as men's sports are funded at twice the rate compared to women's sports, resulting in a scarcity of resources and technology for monitoring. Seshadri's team is also exploring the effect of menstrual cycles on injury, hoping to unlock insights that could guide policy-making and foster the creation of resources tailored to female athletes.
In summary, wearable technology is revolutionizing the way we approach sports medicine, rehabilitation, and injury prevention. Through data-informed decisions, continuous monitoring, and personalized recovery plans, athletes are now performing at their peak while reducing the risk of injury. The future is tech-infused, and it's looking better than ever for sports enthusiasts.
- Wearable technology is helping athletes recover faster from injuries at Lehigh University, thanks to the study led by Assistant Professor Dhruv Seshadri of the faculty.
- The campus is teeming with student-athletes who are part of Seshadri's study, which includes the football team.
- Technology is playing a significant role in engineering faster and more effective rehabilitation programs.
- The study provides valuable data to guide rehabilitation programs and prevent overuse injuries, contributing to the field of science.
- The football team's coach, Kevin Cahill, is embracing the use of wearable technology, finding it beneficial for both performance and injury prevention.
- Wearable tech provides coaches with a wealth of information about an athlete's performance, including GPS trackers, heart rate monitors, and muscle oxygen sensors.
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning are being used to convert data into actionable insights, such as an athlete's performance over time and their progress in rehabilitation.
- The study also explores the use of wearable technology in sports-betting, racing, tennis, basketball, mixed-martial-arts, golf, football, baseball, hockey, and other sports.
- Seshadri's team is investigating the impact of wearable tech on hospital patients, with a focus on non-invasive monitoring and user-friendly analytics.
- The application of wearable technology is particularly crucial for women athletes, who often lack resources and technology for monitoring compared to their male counterparts.
- The study is also examining the effect of menstrual cycles on injury in women athletes, in the hopes of guiding policy-making and creating resources tailored to female athletes.
- Through data-informed decisions, continuous monitoring, and personalized recovery plans, wearable technology is revolutionizing sports medicine, rehabilitation, and injury prevention, paving the way for education-and-self-development, personal-growth, career-development, and job-search opportunities in the field of technology.
