computer on the sidelines, is to more effectively – and more immediately – detect when blows to players’ heads may result in concussions or more severe brain injuries.
In addition, impact data – including location of hits, magnitude of force and duration of hits – is recorded for analysis by University of Illinois research team led by kinesiology and community health professor Steven Broglio.
“Unity is the only high school in the country using the Head Impact Telemetry System, or HITS,” Broglio said.
Broglio said a number of other researchers at universities across the nation also are using the system as the basis for studies of biomechanical processes caused by concussions and traumatic brain injuries.
At Unity, each varsity player was given a baseline assessment for neurocognitive function prior to the start of the season.
On the field during practice or on game day, when the encoder in an athlete’s helmet registers a hit, the system beams impact information to the sidelines laptop, which is monitored by the team’s athletic trainer.
“If an athlete is diagnosed with a concussion, he will not return to play until neurocognitive function returns to baseline performance,” Broglio said.
The fact that high school athletes’ brains may not yet be as fully developed as their college or professional counterparts is a large part of Broglio’s motivation for studying the system’s effectiveness on the younger players.
The U. of I. researcher noted that in many high schools across the country it’s not unusual for players to take a forceful hit, sit out briefly, then return to play. Sometimes they’ll even mask symptoms from coaches and trainers because they don’t want to miss the action.
“We will look at where and how hard they get hit,” he said, adding that one possible outcome of the work may be determining the need to develop a different type of helmet for high school athletes.
team’s coaches were able to work with the athlete to correct the habit.
“As we’ve gone through this first few weeks using the system, for the most part it’s been very good,” said Scott Hamilton, the Rockets’ head coach.