Introduction
The advancement of information and communications technologies continues to transform the sports industry as athletes gain new and more advanced ways sporting activities and strategies. Technologies evolve over time and so do sports causing a major transformation of the sports' industry. The study of technology and sports plays a crucial role in understanding the relationship between the athlete's performance in the field and the available technologies to promote such performance. Moreover, the integration of technology in sports led to the discovery of major sports concussion and their causes. The following paper describes the understanding of sports and technology focusing on sports concussions, organizations that promoted technology in sports, and the role of technology in athlete’s performance.
Discussion
Sport and Technology/Athlete Performance-Concussions
The sports industry keeps evolving each day driven by numerous technological innovations experienced in the world today. The information acquired from various readings and lectures brings a new understanding of the role of technology in sports. One of the main lessons learned from these readings concerning sports and technology was the understanding the role of the sports psychology consultant on issues involving sports concussion. Technology plays a critical role in the diagnoses of concussions resulting from sports injuries. One of the most common sports concussions that pose great threats to an athlete is the traumatic brain injury (TBIs). Athletes, especially those engaging in ball games such as football, rugby, and basketball stand higher chances of TBI. TBI occurs when a person's head come into a sudden contact with an accelerating object. TBI remains a health issue of global concern with many developing countries reporting many admissions of patients diagnosed with the condition. Global statistics on health reveal that almost 10 million people die or are hospitalized out of TBIs every year (Khong, et al. 2).
The number of TBI admissions and deaths were on the rise in the past before the introduction of technology in sports that made it easier for health care experts to develop effective strategies for addressing the problem. Adrian et al.'s article shows the big role that technology plays in improving the diagnosis of TBI through imaging radiology techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). A diagnostic process that uses MRI techniques reveals any functional alterations in the brain of the athlete during the clinical assessment (Adrian et al. 2). Moreover, the application of technology in sports revealed possibilities of identifying an injury on an athlete a year after the date of the injury (Adrian et al. 2). The neuropsychological tests conducted using MRI and CT machines are capable of detecting changes in the brain that happened a year ago. Additionally, the application of technology in sports enables health professionals to determine the best time to include biomarkers of TBI in the athlete's body fluids.
Technology in sports also influences the performance of the athlete. Studying the relationship between sports and technology leads to the realization of what causes athletes today perform better than athletes in the past. Technology plays a critical role in preparing an athlete for the competition. New and advanced technologies allow athletes and trainers to communicate from all corners of the world irrespective of the distance. Moreover, the application of technology in sports leads to the discovery of major errors that influence the performance of the employee that could not be identified in the past. Technology helps in increasing the safety of the athlete by helping detect risks and providing solutions to problems when they occur.
The study of athlete concussions shows how engagement in various sporting activities threatens lives of athletes unknowingly. For instance, being hit by the football on the head may cause major brain injuries resulting into TBIs. A close analysis of the article "Can Technology makes Football Safer" shows how people in the past used to take precautions while playing football to avoid injuries. The absence of technology made many footballers suffer from different types of head traumas out of an impact with the speeding ball without their knowledge. However, the study of sport and technology led to the introduction of the high-tech helmet with highest levels of safety that footballers use to protect their head. Moreover, the article highlighted the importance of teaching athletes about safety through administering concussion assessments. The exam aims at determining a cognitive baseline of the athlete to determine possibilities of further assessments by the medical professional (Schmidle 1).
The history of sports and technology
Application of technology in sports started the long time ago when sports experts would introduce automated score detectors to record scores in a game. The sporting industry experienced significant changes as technology kept advancing to the present where every activity is automated. The use of technology in sports has a lot of impact on the performance of some sports activities. It leads to the understanding of how experts in technology code different characters and traits of an individual using personalized biology and genetics to create sports knowledge. It is no doubt that people who introduced technology in sports during earlier days had a lot of information about human psychology, body functioning, and the environment. The information is still important today in designing numerous technologies that help simplify various sports games and make athletes safer.
Athlete performance gear
Technology helps improve the safety of an athlete while in the field. Every sport has it's specified gear that makes the athlete perform better and improves safety. Experts have come up with sophisticated technologies applied in sports gear aimed at enhancing the performance of the athlete. A good example of the application is in the football game. The football gear starting from shoes, socks, and jerseys are designed using high-tech technologies to enable the athlete to perform better in the field. All garments and gears are worn by the athlete help in influencing success by maximizing performance and improving safety. Helmets worn during football games play a major role in preventing traumatic brain injuries during impacts. Moreover, engineers came up with smart helmets aimed at reducing concussions. The helmet has sensors capable of measuring the force of an impact and detecting the location that later sends the information to the coach via the Smartphone technology. The availability of such devices shows the importance of embracing technology in sports.
Understanding technology in sports also helps realize the importance of technology in promoting the health of athletes. The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in athletes' wearable including football players' uniforms has led to increased performance and improved safety (Anonymous 1). The RFID transmitters fitted in different garments transmit data from the player to receivers located at different places across the arena. The gadgets record the player's information such as heart rate, speed, distance covered, and any other relevant information. The coach analyzes the information to determine when to substitute the player. The smart garment wear helps in maintaining players healthy at all times leading to higher performances.
Conclusion
The world of sports has undergone significant changes over the past few decades and continues to experience more transformations made possible by technology. The analysis of various articles has revealed different relationships between technology and sports and their application in various sporting activities. Engineers in the information and communications technology should conduct more research on technology in sports and create more sophisticated technologies capable of automating everything in sports to advance the sports industry.
Works Cited
Adrian, Harel, Marten, Kvist, Salla, Nuutinen & Lasse, Valimaa. "Biomarkers of Traumatic
Brain Injury: Temporary changes in body fluids." Disorders of the Nervous System 3.6(2016): 1-13.
Anonymous. “Bringing cutting-edge technology to the world of sports.” IEEE Sparks. 2015,
Feb.. Web. 01, Feb. 2017.
Khong, Edrea., Odenwald, Nicole., et al. “Diffusion Tensor Imaging Findings in Post-
Concussion Syndrome Patients after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review.” Frontiers in Neurology 7.156(2016): 1-8.
Schmidle, Nicholas. “Can technology make football safer.” The New Yorker. 2017, Jan. 9. <
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/09/can-technology-make-football-safer >. Web. 01, Feb 2017.
