In this review I searched out to find out what was new in sports innovation and how that my affect athletes.
Pain treatment has come a long way from tape and ice. Today’s top athletes are using technology to reduce inflammation, improve hydration and nutrition and focus on mental health, enabling faster recovery, better pain management and, ultimately, more competitive performance.
The sports tech sector is expected to reach over $30 billion by 2024 as athletes seek to gain whatever edge they can find over their competition. Notably, many of these technologies focus on the whole athlete: from mental health to physical strength to the right combination of electrolyte and fluid intake. With these advances, athletes can train smarter and recover better”
Compression Boots To Aid Recovery
Companies like NormaTec, Rapid Reboot and Air Relax are offering pneumatic recovery units to help athletes enhance blood flow and circulation, improving recovery after a hard workout or big game. Depending on the device, pneumatic units pump air into large boots or sleeves, which inflate while giving the sensation of a massage.”
Wearable Tech To Prevent Injury
Wearable sensors have evolved beyond fitness trackers that capture heart rate, distance and pace. Today’s wearable technology can monitor for signs of trauma from physical impact. For example, according to an article from Ohio University, the Toronto Raptors “had the highest rate of player injury in the league in the 2012 season. Then they started using athletic wearable technology and monitoring players for early signs of soft tissue injury while practicing and playing. In the 2014 season, the Raptors had the least injuries of any team in the league.” The article also notes how Florida State Seminoles athletes began using wearable analytic devices made by Catapult and noticed an 88% reduction of injuries to soft tissues that same year.
”Coaching To Train Your Brain
It’s become well accepted that pain has a psychological component. What’s less well understood is that even chronic pain can be treated via talk therapy. A recent study from the University of Colorado looked at the impact of “pain reprocessing therapy,” a treatment that teaches patients with chronic pain to reinterpret the feeling as a neutral sensation rather than something dangerous. The study found that as participants learned to see their pain as nonthreatening, they were able to reroute neural pathways that were generating pain signals and actually feel the pain subside. The study has remarkable implications for athletes and nonathletes alike.”
”Treating both acute and chronic injury involves modern methods and the latest technology, but it starts with the right mindset. Positive thinking, motivation and patience can all help athletes manage pain, stick to a recovery plan and optimize performance over time. Augmented with the right technology, athletes are turning to mental healthcare to talk through their pain and learn the techniques they need to get back on the field, track or court (Asar, 2022).
In this article I wanted to take a dive into what emerging tech exists for athletes and how any of that may translate into creating better lifestyles for student athletes. Although the technology itself is interesting to read about, the motivation behind the technology is the real insight I took from this article. Many of the new technologies that exists exist for the stage of recovery or to help reduce the amount of injuries in athletes. These new wearable trackers have allowed for a wide range of insights to be found about athletes and their habits. Creating room for conversation about how certain decisions of diet and exercise affect other aspects of training and performance, and giving proof. In the last paragraph of the article they talk about having a “right mindset”, and how it takes a full commitment to a healthier lifestyle to get to become their best selves in the end (Asar, 2022). By seeing these points how then can design use emerging technology to assist athletes in keeping on top of healthy habits in all facets of life?
Source
Asar, A. (2022, May 2). Council post: Five technologies athletes use to manage injury and optimize performance. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2022/05/02/five-technologies-athletes-use-to-manage-injury-and-optimize-performance/
