With traumatic brain injury being a hot topic in the world of sport at the present time, Performance Sports Group Ltd., in a partnership with some of the world’s leading medical experts, have designed a simple device that will address and reduce the chance of mild traumatic brain injury.
The announcement was made at a presentation with many neurology experts in attendance, as well as Ken Davis, CEO of Performance Sports Group.
“It was exciting to bring together such a renowned group of medical experts in the field of mild traumatic brain injury and have them agree that this technology could be a step forward in addressing mTBI (Mild Traumatic Brain Injury) in sports,” Davis said, according to PR Newswire. “As a leading manufacturer of protective sports equipment, we believe it is our obligation to do everything we can to help bring this exciting new technology to athletes around the world.”
Stay on top of the latest concussion technology news with the SportTechie newsletter!
The device is in the form of a band that molds to the neck that will become a world-first in attacking mild traumatic brain injury. It will be the first piece of technology that will go about prevention internally, from modifying the body’s physiology to protect the brain from damage.
It addresses the ‘slosh theory’, which is when the brain is moved around within the skull and pushes up against it, resulting in bruising and potentially other complications in the brain. The device has been designed to apply light pressure to the neck, which will mildly increase blood volume in the brain and it’s vein structure.
“This is the first solution to address mTBI from inside the skull,” said Bailes, a founding member of the Brain Injury Research Institute. “By increasing the volume of blood in the cranial cavity, there’s less room for the brain to move which reduces the overall slosh effect which we believe reduces mTBI. The research results are very encouraging and we are excited to work with Performance Sports Group to continue the important research and bring this technology to market.”
The reason that this creation is so encouraging is that after two peer-reviewed studies were conducted on neurosurgery, it was found that tearing of brain fibers was reduced by 83% when the blood volume in the brain was at an increased level.
While the effectiveness of the device relies heavily on scientific research, sporting cultures can be excited at the prospect of concussion prevention hitting the forefront of sports science. While it is yet to be trialed, the fact that a device with such extensive scientific study behind it means that if it fails, then we are not far off at all.