The physical demands on esports athletes don’t resemble the rigors of mainstream sports, except in one key area: travel. Here, American gamers might actually face a more grueling regimen. Though esports is growing rapidly in the U.S., many major tournaments are in Asia or Europe, requiring long transoceanic flights.
When Taylor Johnson, the director of player development and performance for Infinite Esports & Entertainment, considered the best recovery treatment for his gamers, he drew on his past experience as a San Francisco 49ers strength and conditioning assistant. He began giving players within Infinite’s portfolio of teams a Firefly device to help improve blood flow and could expand its usage to the other teams within its purview, including OpTic Gaming, OpTic League of Legends, Obey Alliance, Team Allegiance and the Houston Outlaws.
“We started using it for our guys taking these overseas flights,” Johnson said, adding that the players responded well to treatment. “That’s where the whole link from traditional to non-traditional with Firefly began.”
Firefly’s roots are in the medical world. A British company called FirstKind initially developed a neuromuscular electro-stimulation technology named OnPulse to help treat deep vein thrombosis and prevent blood clots. That clinical product is sold under the Geko brand, but its technology has been adapted to help elite athletes recover under the Firefly label.
Firefly president Anthony Kjenstad said eight of the 16 NHL playoff teams are customers—including the Stanley Cup Finals-bound Golden Knights—as well as about a third of NFL teams (the Cowboys, Packers, and Steelers among them), a half-dozen MLB clubs (including the Angels, Cubs, and Mariners), a few NBA squads (Clippers, Kings, Lakers, and Timberwolves). College teams like Kansas basketball also use Firefly, and so do a number of individual athletes, including triathletes, boxers, and MMA fighters.
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Placed on the upper calf, Firefly works by using electrical impulses to stimulate the peroneal nerve. According to Kjenstad, medical research has shown that the product can provide around 60 percent of the blood flow increase that walking would.
“You basically use your body’s own mechanics,” Kjenstad said. “You’re triggering a nerve in your body to stimulate the same movement you would get from walking.” He added that Firefly has a high rate of venous return (blood flow back to the heart) and reduces lower-extremity swelling through enhanced micro-circulatory blood flow.
A second esports team has begun preliminary conversations about using Firefly for a similar use, and Johnson said travel recovery is just the beginning of that device’s application in esports. He has begun looking into how the tech could aid performance in a sport in which gamers often compete or train while sitting for 10 or more hours per day. Johnson also sees using the product as just the starting point in a holistic approach to improving the health and wellness of both his athletes and, by example, young esports fans, too.
“It’s never been used in this setting before, at least to my knowledge,” Johnson said. “We’re just trying to think of some creative ways to help improve blood flow, which we know improving the blood flow will lead to better cognitive function.”
Johnson added that the 49ers were primarily using Firefly for recovery from long flights and that NFL players had been receptive to its ease of use and efficacy. He’s hoping to find ways to make the device part of his gamers’ daily routine, but only when the timing is appropriate.
“We don’t want to do too much, too soon, too often,” he said. “It’s all about dosing the technology accordingly.”