CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Advanced injury analytics are coming to the Canadian Football League (CFL).
While many leagues focus on the performance of an athlete, a new deal between researchers and the CFL will focus on concussions.
Harrison Brown, CEO of Headcheck Health said every potential head injury will be put on one new digital platform.
“We can aggregate all that data and try to make sense of it. Things like time of the game, day game or a night game, certain fields even.”
The analytics can also show elements like types of helmets and certain player positions.
Brown said with the technology, teams can follow the same step by step procedure when someone is potentially hurt, and the league will be able to track teams to make sure everything is done correctly.
He points out the data could help find some unknown causes of the injuries.
“Maybe one of the fields in the league had a 10 percent higher chance of concussion that we just never knew about. We’re able to actually make sense of this data, provide it back to the league in a digestible format and that can help them make the game safer for their players.”
Other leagues such as the NFL have made changes to the game to prevent head-related injuries, including moving the spot of the kickoff.
While Brown doesn’t anticipate major game changes like that, he said the partnership can look at minor adjustments.
“One of the interesting ones we want to look at potentially in the future is the types of turf that are used. We just got to make sure this data is entered, it’s accurate and once we’ve got that, the sky’s the limit.”
Headcheck Health will start collecting data on head injuries this season.