STORY: These professional mountain bikers are taking a new head impact monitor for a test ride.
The little gadget – called a HIT Device – attaches to the outside of the helmet and warns the user when a rough ride could cause an injury, even if they haven’t crashed.
Euan Bowen, who developed HIT in Scotland, says the device can help athletes recognize when to pause – allowing the brain time to recover.
“There’s people not knowing when to stop, not knowing when to continue. It’s ‘do I have a concussion do I not? it’s the only organ in your body that doesn’t have pain receptors. So, all we’re doing is informing you with data so you can make a better decision or your friend or your teammate, or your parent.”
As these biker’s train, the HIT Device is monitoring and recording their head impact force.
The activity is seen through an app, which uses a traffic light warning system to aid users in deciding if they need medical attention.
Reece Wilson is a former world champion mountain biker.
“This HIT device is going to be massive for us. We can just monitor all of those impacts and if we ever have one that’s too big that takes us to a bit of rest time then so be it, we can take a plan forward from there and make sure that we’re not adding any extra stress or injury to the brain.”
Concussions can be difficult to diagnose, due to varying factors such as one’s strength, bone thickness and prior concussions.
Wilson has first-hand experience, once having to sit on the sidelines for a whole year due to a concussion.
“It’s very difficult to track a brain injury just simply because you can’t see it. It’s inside your head and everybody has symptoms that can be I guess easily diagnosed as something else as well. So, it’s a very complex situation. So, a device like this, I think is vital.”
High impact sports, like rugby and American football, are also trying to better identify and treat head injuries.
HIT says monitoring head impacts could help coaches make better decisions for when to bench a player or withdraw a rider off their bike.
But the HIT device is not limited to professional athletes – anyone can use it.
Bowen says the more users, the more data they can analyze.
“We’re not just collecting data in the lab, we’re going to be collecting it from everyday users and pro riders, and we’re seeing trends. We’re going to see gender, age, maybe start even building equipment and then from there, you start to see the whole picture.”
