With concerns and lawsuits regarding concussions causing rule changes to football at all levels, officials are taking many innovative steps to make the game safer.
To anyone familiar with ASU’s objectives, it should be no surprise that the University is the first in the nation to become a major part of researching safer ways to play the game.
The ASU football team has partnered with Riddell, one of the nation’s top helmet manufacturers, and the Translational Genomics Research Institute to research concussions, the involved parties announced Thursday.
“Our goal is to be leaders in the community, on and off the field, and partnering with industry pioneers like Riddell and TGen enables us to be proactive in helping to advance the game and enrich the lives of our student-athletes,” Steve Patterson, Vice President for Sun Devil Athletics, said in a press release.
“Involvement in this study is consistent with our long-term goals, and also increases awareness and understanding of this important topic, as well as furthers the Pac-12’s Student-Athlete Health and Well-Being Initiative,” Patterson said.
According to the press release, researchers will be tracking players using the Riddell Sideline Response System. The system will be built inside the players’ helmets and will monitor their molecular information during practices and games throughout the season. Researchers hope SRS can help identify concussions and properly determine when a player can return to the field.
Players went through a baseline sample and have been monitored since the team’s preseason workouts, according to the release.
ASU’s trainers and physicians will not be able to see the data until the end of the season, when TGen researchers will meet with colleagues at the Barrow Neurological Institute and A.T. Still University to analyze their findings, according to the press release.
“Together with Arizona State University, TGen and our other important research partners, we at Riddell hope to answer a number of key questions that will lead to improved player protection, inform our continued development of new helmet innovations and further refine player monitoring technology,” Dan Arment, President of Riddell said in the release.
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
