Can GPS Trackers Help Prevent Player Injuries and Burnout?
5 Jul 2012Many professional athletes — and amateur ones at that — will inevitably be subject to an injury at some point during their athletic career. And some types of sports seem to have more of their share of player injuries than others. Take for example the sport of football — as it called Down Under or soccer, as its called in the USA. Chances are, if you watch one of these games, a player becomes injured before the winner of the match-up is determined.
Whether it is a strained abdominal muscle, torn rotator cuff, or severe ACL injury, 80 percent of these sporting injuries are preventable, according to Raymond Verheijen, exercise physiologist. Verheijen, who is working with Russia’s Euro 2012 national team, recently published a study revealing that player fatigue resulted in a substantial disadvantage in terms of winning. The amount of physical trauma players place on their bodies while playing a game, added to a lack of muscle recovery and rest, arguably can make an athlete more prone to injury from fatigue.
Even when professional sports athletes aren’t playing in an actual game, they are often practicing for the next match or working out. What’s more, with the 2012 Olympics in London just a few weeks away, some athletes are performing dual roles: playing in their professional teams, while also representing their country in the Olympics.
One leading Australian sports scientist, Dr. Craig Duncan, believes that some of these soft-tissue injuries incurred during a game can be prevented if players would wear a GPS tracking device. According to Duncan, who also is the head of human performance at soccer club Sydney FC, GPS tracking devices can measure how intensely a player is working on the soccer field by tracking his position on the field.
A 2011 international rugby union players study came to the conclusion that “GPS data provides important performance indicators, assists in the development of conditioning and training protocols, as well as injury management.”
While some Australian sports scientists are proposing that players football players (referred to as soccer in the U.S.) begin using GPS tracking devices to prevent injury, there’s an obstacle in implementing its use. Because GPS tracking for athletes lies within the FIFA, football’s ruling agency, GPS isn’t considered basic equipment — therefore, it’s not allowed on the field.
“Football needs to legalize its use to enhance player welfare,” Duncan said. “It’s in the interest of clubs, fans, players and the game itself that we do everything possible to maximize the performance of the player while doing our bet to minimize the risk of injury. We have substituted players in preseason when this numbers start getting outside normal zones and also to monitor loads in training to ensure injuries are prevented. If we could use it in games, I do think we could prevent more, as many injuries are fatigue related. However I also realize many managers would not make subs based on this.”
While the FIFA rules don’t permit the use of GPS, the laws do state that “A player may use equipment other than the basic equipment provided that its sole purpose is to protect him physically and it poses no danger to him or any other player. All items of clothing or equipment other than the basic equipment must be inspected by the referee and determined not to be dangerous.”
In theory then, it seems, using GPS tracking in this way may be an escape clause — or rulebook technicality — that could potentially be used to prevent many preventable athletic injuries.
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