January 13, 2015

6 Slides

4 Things Football's Concussion Problem Is Teaching Medtech

There's a scramble underway to find devices that help prevent brain injuries in U.S. football, as well as other high impact sports such as hockey (not to mention what the rest of the world calls football). The quest for such devices is providing plenty of lessons to learn for mobile health and wearable device designers in general.

This is a serious issue: The National Football League alone has proposed a $765 million settlement of concussion-related lawsuits. It estimates that nearly a third of its players will end up with a debilitating brain condition like Alzheimers or dementia and will have twice the lifetime risk as the general population of developing such conditions. The NFL and General Electric have been funding grants to some of the companies investigating devices and software to better monitor tackles on the field and their effects, including concussions.

Read on to find out some of the design challenges behind these devices >>

Refresh your medical device industry knowledge at MD&M West, in Anaheim, CA, February 10-12, 2015.

Chris Newmarker is senior editor of Qmed and MPMN. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker. (Nancy Crotti contributed to this story.)

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