Samsung develops new wearable to monitor concussions in athletes

PanARMENIAN.Net - Samsung has developed a new wearable that will monitor concussions in athletes, Digital Spy reports.

The issue of concussion is a hot topic in contact sports, including rugby, American Football and professional wrestling.

Industrial designer Braden Wilson and neuroscientist Alan Pearce have collaborated on BrainBand for the Australian branch of the tech firm.

"One of the most horrific injuries in contact sports is CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy), a neurodegenerative disease that can result from concussions," Samsung said.

"It can wreak havoc on the brain, leading to loss in movement skills, memory problems, aggression, anxiety, depression and dementia.

"Samsung wants football and other great Australian sports to thrive and flourish as much as anyone. We want to investigate ways that we can all safely enjoy these great sports for years to come."

Pearce told Mashable that the purpose of the tech is to help coaches manage players who are exposed to head injuries in their sport.

"It is more about trying to manage and mitigate concussions in the acute phase because CTE is the result of multiple head injuries that aren't managed properly," he explained.

"So if we can get on this early, it is unlikely to have any long-term effects on CTE, for example, in the current or next generation of players because we are measuring the forces now and we are addressing the concussion or head injury in that following week."

The issue of CTE was the subject of Will Smith's recent movie Concussion, while former WWE World Heavyweight Daniel Bryan was forced to quit the business as a result of his repeated concussions.