BrainCheck Concussion just announced the launch of its first product that aims to reduce the risk of potential brain damage with brain health testing. The product is an app and is available for iOS and coming soon to Android. Parents and sports coaches will be able to use the app as well to monitor their athletes.
Neurologist Dr. David Eagleman, a NY Times best-selling author and host of the PBS series The Brain, created BrainCheck. Dr. Eagleman has appeared as a guest on NPR, The Colbert Report, and more discussing his new tech.
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BrainCheck will use neurocognitive tests to give a comprehensive view of brain function in about five minutes. Through movable interactive games that involve small tasks and questions, the app will give an overview of the athlete’s brain function. These tasks will test reaction time, balance, coordination, attention, visual processing, memory, and more. By analyzing baseline tests after an accident or collision, trainers and coaches can compare the athlete’s post-incident test to recognize any potential injuries.
It is undeniable that collisions during contact sports like football have damaging effects on the players. But many leading NFL teams have failed to follow concussion protocols and are ignoring and have ignored some major concerns in the past. A terrifying figure of 39% of athletes with catastrophic head injuries continue to play, thus further increasing their risk of long-term, life-changing injuries. So this app cold help revolutionize the market of preventative technology.
Users can download the app straight to their iPads and get a baseline for free or contact the company on the BrainCheck website for a demo of the enterprise version. Data privacy is important for BrainCheck and all user information from the app is stored on HIPAA-compliant servers.
BrainCheck also collaborates with many schools. Their athletic trainers can come to a school and give students their baseline data.
BrainCheck will also reach out to an older clientele. With declining cognitive abilities as you age, BrainCheck believes that by taking BrainCheck Memory tests once a week, users can notice and monitor small changes from one week to the next that may emerge as a larger pattern over time. The product can also be simply used in the office to prevent mental fatigue from causing accidents like falls or encounters with heavy objects.
It will be interesting to see the adoption rate of BrainCheck with athletes and teams. In theory it seems like a potentially powerful tool for spotting historical trends in user’s cognitive data. Which is a step in the right direction for preventing concussions and their symptoms.