An athlete’s body is a crucial component to success for them or their team. It’s important to identify an injury as soon as possible to minimize the effect it can have, whether the injury is major or minor. The longer it takes to find, the more harm it can do.
SuperSonic Imagine, a medical imaging company based in France, has created a new system that will hopefully improve the way athletes can rehabilitate and stay healthy. Reading through the company’s website can be a bit of crash course in medical terminology, so here’s the simplified explanation for us non-doctors and athletic trainers.
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The SuperSonic Imagine Aixplorer ultrasound system includes an upgraded software platform that gives it the ability to obtain information up to 20,000 images per second, which is 200 times faster than the conventional ultrasound. With this and the enhanced image quality it brings, it’ll make it easier to minimize mistakes or missed injuries.
Sport Lisboa Benfica (Portugal) and Pure Sport Medicine (England), two sports medicine organizations, have elected to use Aixplorer for musculo-skeletal injuries. Aixplorer’s Shearwave Elastography will be able to give clinicians a more in-depth look at the stiffness of the muscles and tendons. It provides real-time imaging of the changes in said stiffness while the body is reacting to the injury itself and to the rehab regime they’ve been provided.
Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Jacques Souquet, said in an interview with MarketWired, “Sports doctors need to be able to continuously monitor athletes’ injuries from initial diagnosis through to recovery. If players return to workouts too quickly, the injuries could become more serious and permanent. Having the most advanced tools at hand is key for enabling clinicians to know when it is time to change the course of treatment and when it is safe for athletes to return to their active careers.”