How Data Improves Athlete Safety

Can Strain Gage Sensors Help Reduce the Risk of Concussion in Contact Sports? Traumatic brain injuries, from mild concussion to long-term degenerative diseases like CTE, are a growing concern in sports, the military, and beyond. Often, the most dangerous impacts go unnoticed: athletes under-report symptoms, signs are missed on the sidelines, and sub-concussive blows accumulate silently over time. That’s why engineers and researchers are turning to smart sensing systems—including those based on foil strain gage sensors—to better understand and manage head impact exposure. Foil strain gage sensors, when embedded in helmets or worn on the body (such as flexible patches on the neck), can measure the forces generated during impact with high precision. While these systems do not diagnose concussion, they can: 🔹 Flag impacts above predefined thresholds to trigger sideline evaluation 🔹 Provide real-time data for screening—not just observation 🔹 Offer feedback that supports coaching, behavior change, and technique improvement 🔹 Help reduce cumulative exposure to sub-concussive impacts across a season Recent studies have validated strain-based sensing systems—particularly flexible wearable patches—as tools for estimating head kinematics and identifying high-risk events. The goal isn’t diagnosis but awareness and early intervention. As researchers refine these systems, and calibration and filtering improve, the path becomes clearer: precision sensors like strain gages can support a smarter approach to athlete safety, where data—not guesswork—guides decisions. Because protecting the brain starts with understanding the forces it endures.

In 2022, the NFL paid nearly $800 MILLION to injured players. But in 2024, they used AI to crunch 6.4 million data points—per game. And it’s slashing injuries by 29%. Here’s how it’s saving careers (and championships): As a former NFL agent and Wall Street vet, I've seen data transform sports. The physical toll is brutal, but the NFL's latest innovation changes everything. They're using AI to predict injuries before they happen. But here's what makes this revolutionary: The system processes 8TB of video weekly through computer vision. ML models analyze every tackle, cut, and sprint in real-time. AI runs 4.3M simulations per game to spot injury risks. It's trained on 10,000+ simulated seasons. The tech behind it? Mind-blowing: Players wear Zebra Tech sensors tracking: • Location in real-time • Speed variations • Impact forces • Distance covered • Acceleration patterns But the magic happens in the cloud: AWS processes data within 12 seconds. The system builds a "Digital Athlete" - your virtual twin. It uses 3D pose estimation for biomechanical analysis. This predicts injuries with unprecedented accuracy. Here's where it gets fascinating: Mouthguards capture data at 20,000 Hz, measuring: • Force of collision • Direction of impact • Velocity at contact When risks exceed thresholds, something remarkable happens: Teams get instant tablet alerts. These aren't generic warnings. Each alert considers: • Player's injury history • Position benchmarks • Current game demands The impact? Staggering: The Chiefs now average 3.2 proactive subs per game based on AI. These aren't random switches. They're data-driven decisions revolutionizing player management. And here's the biggest breakthrough: The system flags players hitting: • 85% of position-specific speeds • 90th percentile contact forces • 15+ high-intensity impacts But there's an irony in all this: While the NFL develops this amazing tech, they keep pushing for an 18-game season. They're using AI to protect players while adding more wear and tear. It's like installing airbags while removing seatbelts. From my NFL experience, I know what's at stake. This isn't just about preventing injuries. It's about extending careers and protecting legacies. Keeping our favorite players on the field longer. Football's future isn't just player safety. AI drives smarter decisions in: • Player management • Performance data • Injury prevention This tech changes how we analyze the game.

From the (NBA) Files… 📂 When a Player Asked Me to Make Wellness Matter. On my third day with the team, one of our players stopped me in the hallway and said: “We fill these out every day and nothing changes.” It wasn’t attitude - it was honest. And it was fair. I told him: “Give me a week.” I wasn’t totally sure what I’d show him. But I knew I had to make the data do something. So we rebuilt the process with one rule: Every score had to connect to an action. What we changed: •Adjusted scoring - Each athlete was compared to their own trendline, not the team •Weighted inputs - Some metrics triggered deeper review (sleep, soreness), others added context (motivation, stress) •Simplified thresholds - If it didn’t call for action, it didn’t need attention We stopped trying to catch everything. We focused on catching the right things. Then we matched those with interventions: •Minor shifts = awareness •Repeated drops = a check-in •Sharp signals = cross-department response That same player? He started filling the form out before we even asked. Asked follow-ups. Flagged things on his own. Because now, wellness wasn’t a task. It was a trusted early warning system. If you want data to matter, make it impossible to ignore. #Highperformancehabits #SportScience #HumanPerformance #AthletePerformance #Biomechanics #StrengthAndConditioning #SportsAnalytics #ProfessionalGrowth #Leadership #CareerDevelopment #Read #AppliedSportScience #PerformanceOptimization

🚀 Integrated communication and biochemical insights ⚽ I recently explored two scientific publications that, when combined, offer a powerful insight into how we can elevate high-performance football. The first study, published in Biomarkers, investigates the use of Individualised Adaptive Reference Ranges (IARR) based on C-Reactive Protein (CRP) to monitor recovery in Premier League players. This highlights the importance of personalised approaches to optimising recovery and performance. Charlie Pedlar, ORRECO, Nick Sprague. The second paper, published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, investigates communication between medical staff and performance staff as a crucial factor in preventing hamstring muscle injuries in UEFA club football. 💡 Key insights and applications: Personalised recovery through biochemical monitoring: Using IARR to monitor biomarkers such as CRP enables a more accurate and individualised approach to athlete recovery. These data provide objective insights into an athlete’s physiological state, guiding personalized interventions. Multidisciplinary communication: the linchpin of success: Effective communication between medical staff, coaches, and athletic trainers is critical to creating a safe and effective training environment. Trust and collaboration are essential for informed decisions about training load and recovery. Holistic data integration: Data analysis should be integrated, combining information from biomarkers, training load, and perceived fatigue. This holistic approach allows for a more complete understanding of the athlete’s state and guides interventions more effectively. Leveraging biochemical data for improved communication: Biomarker research provides a concrete tool—CRP-based IARR—that can serve as a focal point for communication. For example, if a player’s CRP levels consistently exceed their IARR, this triggers a structured conversation between the medical staff and coaches to discuss potential causes (overtraining, inflammation) and adjust the training plan accordingly. Injury prevention through proactive dialogue: The BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine study highlights the importance of proactive dialogue. By establishing clear communication channels and protocols, teams can ensure that biochemical data informs training decisions, minimising the risk of hamstring injuries and other issues. 🏆 Conclusion: These studies highlight the importance of an integrated approach to optimising performance and health in elite football. By combining personalised biochemical monitoring with effective communication and a holistic approach, we can create a safer, more effective and athlete-centred training environment. #Football #SportsPerformance #Biomarkers #Recovery #InjuryPrevention #PersonalizedTraining #SportsInnovation #SportsScience #CommunicationInSports

The National Football League (NFL)'s commitment to player safety and performance has reached new heights with the groundbreaking Digital Athlete program, an innovative AI-powered initiative that’s redefining how teams train and protect players. Working alongside Amazon Web Services (AWS) and sports science experts, the NFL has built a virtual platform that creates a digital avatar for each player, enabling coaches and health professionals to monitor, predict, and optimize player health and performance. With real-time data at their fingertips, teams can anticipate injury risks and fine-tune player workloads, keeping athletes in peak condition and extending their careers. Ben Peterson, VP of Health and Performance for the San Francisco 49ers, has leveraged AI to revolutionize team management strategies, running millions of simulations to assess potential impacts on players. AI-driven adjustments have allowed coaches to prevent injuries, as shown when the system flagged a quarterback's mechanics as potentially problematic, leading to minor tweaks that improved both accuracy and safety. By freeing up valuable time for coaches and trainers to engage directly with players, AI has strengthened communication and boosted on-field performance for the 49ers. Jeff Miller VP of Player Health and Safety, notes that the proactive use of AI is making the game smarter and safer. The Digital Athlete program’s predictive analytics detect early warning signs, enabling prompt interventions that could avert serious injuries. The initiative is setting a new industry standard in sports safety, offering a blueprint for how AI can be adopted by other sports to improve player well-being and performance. The NFL's Digital Athlete program is a true testament to how technology can drive positive change. Dive into this journey of innovation by reading the full article — click the link to explore how AI is shaping the future of sports! https://lnkd.in/ex7qBUng

AI is revolutionizing the way we keep young athletes safe. Here are 7 examples: 1. AI can analyze training loads and encourage rest before our kids push too hard. 2. It can review video footage of games or practices and detect muscle imbalances from movement patterns imperceptible to the human eye. 3. It can monitor speed and gait to flag fatigue in real-time, prompting kids to take a break. 4. With data from sensors placed in critical equipment like helmets and mouthguards, it can register concerning collisions and alert coaches to the need for head assessments. 5. It can take a look at injuries over time, identifying patterns that we may not notice and altering training plans. 6. It can run simulations of plays to look for potential injury risks, calling out the players and scenarios that are the most concerning. 7. And it can amalgamate data from outside sports performance—sleep, grades, nutrition—to identify when a change needs to be made. And these are just the examples we know about today. The technology we have to prevent and identify injuries in our most precious athletes is evolving constantly. Over time, it will help us make youth sports even safer, letting us focus on making sports fun. What other ways can you see AI helping youth sports? Let me know in the comments below. #GameChanger #YouthSports #SportsTech #AI #sports