Sport-related concussions are becoming a growing concern among athletes, but one Ottawa company thinks it might have part of the solution: a piece of electronics that can measure the impact of on-ice hits to the head.
The device, which is a few inches long and about an inch thick, was developed by Impakt Protective Inc. Danny Crossman, the company's CEO, described it as "a small sensor" that's programmed to communicate via a Bluetooth technology to a smartphone like a BlackBerry.
The sensor sends data to the phone, which indicates the direction and magnitude of the hit, he said.
Although the device won't head off a concussive hit, the idea is that it can register when a player has suffered a concussion so that coaches or trainers can begin treatment right away.
"If a player's flat-out on the ice it's pretty easy to figure out something's happened," Crossman said.
But doctors are becoming increasingly concerned with "low-threshold hits," which he said might have a cumulative impact on a player. The device his company has developed could help "recognize" those, he said.
The sensor is small enough that it can embedded in a hockey or football helmet "amongst the padding," Crossman said. Impakt Protective is also looking at ways to install the device in older helmets, not just new ones.
But that may be a few years away yet. For the moment the company is still at the testing stage and is in talks with NHL, CFL and university teams in the hopes of starting clinical trials.
If the results prove that it's effective, the device could become as common "as mouth guards and neck guards" in professional hockey as well as for younger players.
The NHL alone averages about 75 concussions per year, and junior hockey concussion rates are believed to be much higher.
Superstar Sidney Crosby is still recovering from two concussions he incurred four days apart, on Jan. 1 and Jan. 5, 2011. He hasn't returned to the ice since, due to the lingering effects.
