For centuries now, humans the world over have admired the bravery and power of warriors, both fictional and real. We stand in awe of those quick to ignore their own safety and fling themselves headlong into danger. That is why football today remains one of the premier sports in America. It pits some of the biggest, strongest, and fastest athletes in the world against one another on a playing field that, at times, seems to possess inadequate dimensions for staging 22 athletes of such size and mobility. Even the casual football consumer is aware of the perils of the sport; it has become evident that football participation, in itself, is the true kryptonite for many of these “supermen”.
The NFL has reached an impasse with its fans, its players past, present, and future, and jeopardized its own longevity because of impending player safety issues. That is one of the reasons why the NFL has partnered with the world’s largest biopharmaceutical services company, Quintiles, to further the NFL’s Injury Surveillance System (ISS).
This partnership has been extended fiver years, and now also covers the analytics behind player injury. Using a database for individual athletes over the course of training camp and a full season, Quintiles monitors the conditions surrounding injuries, and the ramifications of these injuries. Quintiles provides a similar service for monitoring its typical patients as well.
Quintiles specializes in global study of health and disease causes and effects, and is turning over a new leaf by implementing their techniques in an athletic application.
Associate Director of Epidemiology at Quintiles, Christina Mack, maintains that, “Conducting analytics using EMRs (electronic medical records) and other game-related information substantially broadens our understanding of player health and safety.”
Both parties seek to gain from this marriage, as Quintiles has the opportunity to broaden its scope of understanding and preventative health measures, and the NFL furthers its cause for a safer environment. Die-hard football fans, in America and worldwide, should be comforted by the fact that the NFL is working to move toward a game that offers more peace of mind for its players, even after their careers’ have ended.
Quintiles monitoring NFL injuries to develop preventative solutions benefits athletes, goes a long way in preserving the integrity of the league, and may allow Quintiles to gain a better comprehension of methods to better assist at risk people in communities the world over. This could really be a team victory for all of us.