Reducing brain injuries in sports is a constant issue that is trying to be resolved by numerous innovations. Q30 Innovations may have developed the newest solution to reduce the impact of traumatic brain injuries with the the creation of one of their newest products the Q-Collar.
Q30 Innovations designs products to protect from traumatic brain injuries based on scientific research and have developed the Q-Collar. The Q-Collar is a C-shaped neck collar that is the first technology to use human’s internal physiology to protect the skull rather than an external protector, like a helmet.
The slosh effect is one of the larger causes of traumatic brain injury. Human’s brains float in cerebrospinal fluid and the movement of the brain in the fluid is regarded as slosh. The Q-Collar increases the blood volume in the cranium, which in result helps to reduce the slosh effect and protect from brain injury.
Performance Sports Group, who is one of the leaders in the development of performance equipment and apparel for sports such as ice hockey, have acquired the licensing of the Q-Collar. Performance Sports Group President Amir Rosenthal is impressed with the results of the testing of the product. In a press release he stated, “The results of the studies are compelling and we are very encouraged about the continued effectiveness of the device in testing, first shown in multiple animal studies and now in multiple athlete studies,” said Rosenthal. “We continue to focus our efforts on taking the necessary steps to bring this exciting and promising new product to athletes around the world.”
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The British Journal of Sports Medicine completed a study on football players at Cincinnati high school in 2015. The study was conducted to measure changes in the white matter of athletes’ brains by using diffusion tensor imaging. The results of the study were alarming as athletes not wearing the Q-Collar had significant alterations in the white matter, while athletes wearing the device did not have significant alterations in the white matter. In a similar study in 2014, Frontiers in Neurology first studied the results of the Q-Collar on hockey players. The results were similar, as athletes that used the Q-Collar did not have significant changes in white matter of the brain, while the athletes not wearing the Q-Collar had significant changes in their white matter.
Q-30 Innovations Co-Founder Tom Hoey is excited for the potential impact his product can have on saving athletes from brain injuries. “These groundbreaking studies show that wearing the device appears to reduce injury to the brain resulting from sports-related blows to the head,” said Hoey. “These are important findings that warrant continued research of this potential major advance in reducing the occurrence of brain injury, not only in sports, but also for the military and industrial settings.”
There is surely potential for success of the Q-Collar in the sports industry. The brain is too valuable to not be protected to the fullest and the Q-Collar potentially offers a great solution for athletes to have less fear of brain injuries. Performance Sports Group expects the device to be available in Canada in 2017 with potential expansion to other countries including the United States. Innovations to protect from brain injury will continue evolve and the Q-Collar is surely a product to come into use in our future.