What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “sports related injuries?” Concussions are the first thing that many people think of. There are about 3.8 million sports-related concussions per year, and that’s with only 47 percent of the athletes that have concussion symptoms actually reporting so. Because of this lack of reporting, serious neurocognitive injuries can occur, especially at the high school level a large portion of which can be attributed to the lack of technology available compared to the college or professional level.
Founded in 2013, Force Impact Technologies set out to help eliminate the lack of reporting and lower the risk of neurological damage by creating the FITGuard, a head-injury awareness mouthguard. Founders, Anthony Gonzales and Bob Merriman were college athletes who witnessed the impact of concussions first hand, and with their degrees, decided to make a product that would help them and their fellow teammates to be more aware of each hit that occurred during an athletic competition.
With the technology embedded into the FITGuard, the mouthguard can detect rapid changes in acceleration that breach a predetermined threshold and alert the user through flashing of LED light or by a free app that connects through Bluetooth. Athletes or parents could access this information in real time or even coaches could have their entire team sync to the same cloud and could monitor all their players during sporting events. The FITGuard is only a small glimpse into how technology can and will be integrated into sports in the future.
This is an innovative product. They found an answer to the question of how to motivate athletes to visit the doctor when they need to. FITGuard doesn’t just protect athletes, it goes the extra mile to make sure that athletes receive treatments for brain trauma if they need it.
Pete, how cool is the FIT Guard! I know plenty of people who have had concussions and would probably love to have this product!
This is a great example of taking a simple common object and making it a smart object. Who would have thought to invent a technologically savvy mouth guard? I wonder if it can account for multiple levels of impact accruing to a concussion or just record certain intensity impacts?
I have had 2 concussions already and I think this is a great product. Many athletes don’t even know they have a concussion or just shake it off and keep playing. When this happens, those athletes are at risk for permanent damage to their brain. Great product that will reduce that risk.
This is a really cool product! With how numerous concussions are in sports today I bet this will become a widely used app and product. This is a great example of how entrepreneurs see a need in society and create a useful product to solve it.