Add Iowa State University to the list of believers in SyncThink’s EYE-SYNC technology. The Cyclones’ football and wrestling programs will be using the VR eye-tracking tech to quickly and objectively make a concussion assessment.
ISU’s staff will use EYE-SYNC on the sidelines and as part of the return-to-play protocol. By assessing ocular-motor synchronization deficits, the tool can measure impairments in just one minute. The rapid assessment time is a big reason the Cyclones chose SyncThink.
“We chose to incorporate EYE-SYNC into our concussion identification and management plan combining it with our existing technology to provide us with quick, objective data assessing potential ocular-motor dysfunction as the initial part of our evaluation process,” ISU Director of Sports Medicine and Associate Athletic Director Mark Coberley said in a statement. “Utilizing EYE-SYNC with our other technologies is allowing us to more easily identify possible concussions, determine appropriate return to play decisions, and as importantly, target and evaluate identified areas of dysfunction that can be addressed more effectively during the recovery process.”
Arrival of the device, developed by Dr. Jamshid Ghajar of Stanford University, couldn’t come at a better time. A recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at the brains of 111 deceased former football players, and 110 of those brains were found to have the degenerative brain disease CTE.
As evidence mounts regarding the dangers of collision sports like football, player safety becomes even more important. EYE-SYNC gives Iowa State clarity in terms of when an athlete should return to play. More importantly, it does so without bias from athlete or clinician as the HIPAA-compliant analytics platform delivers results via a cloud-connected system.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for us to partner with an elite institution and athletics department like Iowa State University,” SyncThink Chief Customer Officer Scott Anderson said in a statement. “I’m excited for them to see the value our technology will bring to their sidelines and injury clinic, and most importantly to know their student-athletes will be comforted by seeing objectively how their impairments resolve with appropriate treatment, ensuring safe return to sport.”
ISU plans on having more of their teams use EYE-SYNC as the on-boarding process moves forward.