http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/a-concussion-monitor-to-measure-hard-knocks/?emc=edit_th_20140311&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=49641193On a frigid night recently in Randolph, N.J., the Jersey Wildcats junior hockey team flew across the home rink during practice at Aspen Ice Arena, sending ice into the air. Hockey is known for its collisions, and concussions aren’t unusual, but the players didn’t seem particularly worried.
On the backs of their heads were flashing green lights, signifying that all was well.
“We’ll be behind the bench, and as soon as a player comes back we can look right down and it’ll be a nice light,” said the coach, Justin Stanlick. If the light changes color, “we can know that player needs to go see a trainer to get cleared.”
The light is part of a head impact sensor called the Checklight, made by Reebok. The device is a black skullcap with an electronic strip and three lights on the back. It blinks green when a player has sustained no head impact on the ice, yellow after a moderate impact and red after a severe one. The Checklight relies on an accelerometer and a gyroscope to measure the force of an impact.
The Checklight flashes green for no impact, yellow for a moderate blow, red for a severe one.Bryan Thomas for The New York Times The Checklight flashes green for no impact, yellow for a moderate blow, red for a severe one.
Coaches and parents have only to look to see if a player has taken a serious blow. And because the sensors are objective, Reebok executives say, they may lessen the pressure on young athletes to project toughness and play through a concussion.
Gage Malinowski, a 19-year-old defenseman for the Wildcats, recently returned to practice after suffering the latest in a series of concussions during a game in February. “There’s not a game where I don’t have at least 10 hits,” he said.
While chasing a puck behind the net, “I just turned the wrong way and he hit me from behind,” Gage said. “Five minutes later I started to get blurry, and so I didn’t want to risk it.”
“Other players will say I’m not tough enough,” he added. “But I don’t care, it’s my head.”
Concussions are a growing concern in youth sports, as they are at the higher levels. By one estimate, 300,000 high school and college athletes a year sustain concussions. Experts say the total tally is likely much greater.
While there are no easy solutions, Reebok and other companies are working on high-tech aids. Some are developing impact sensors that can be taped into football helmets or worn as mouth guards. Triax Technologies, in Norwalk, Conn., is testing an impact sensor worn as a headband with various teams, including the University of New Haven women’s soccer team. Reebok plans to release a headband version of the Checklight later this year.
Impact sensors in helmets have been previously available, but typically for $1,000 or more. The Checklight retails for $150.
Experts note that these are imprecise tools, insufficient by themselves to indicate a concussion. Another problem is that an impact that leaves one player concussed may have little effect on another.
Reebok would not disclose its thresholds for determining moderate and severe collisions, only that the Checklight measures linear and rotational acceleration and the duration of the impact.
In January, the Sports Legacy Institute, a nonprofit organization supported by sporting goods manufacturers that aims to limit the number of subconcussive hits sustained by athletes, took a stab at quantifying a concussion threshold. In an initiative modeled after baseball’s pitch count, which limits the number of pitches thrown in hopes of preventing elbow injuries, the institute released a “hit count” white paper stating that what counts as a hit is one involving more than 20 G’s of linear acceleration in a 40-millisecond window.
But a co-author of the paper remained skeptical about applying a definitive threshold and about counting subconcussive hits.
“There is not a known threshold for concussions,” said Kevin Guskiewicz, an exercise and sport science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who has been studying concussions with similar sensor technology.
“Parents are going to buy a product that’s potentially going to protect their kid, but it can be very misleading,” Dr. Guskiewicz added. “The science hasn’t evolved to the point where we can interpret these metrics.”
Though the science isn’t there yet, the Wildcats serve as an early indication that the sports marketplace is evolving. They are the first hockey team Reebok has outfitted with the Checklight as part of the company’s program to “seed” teams.
At the recent practice, Rich Zuckerman of Florham Park, N.J., watched his 15-year-old son, Steven, skate with the team that he may eventually join. He wasn’t wearing a Checklight, and this was the first Mr. Zuckerman had heard of it.
“If it works, it’s great,” he said, with good reason. Two years ago, Steven sustained four concussions over a four-day period that included a football practice, two hockey games and a football game. He was out for six weeks.
“We want to see the players long term,” said Mr. Stanlick, the Wildcats’ coach. “We want to see them stay in the sport and enjoy it.”
