A jolt to the senses.

• Author: Matheson, Rob
• Position: Athletic Arena - Sports-related head injuries and Jolt Sensor

"The American College of Sports Medicine estimates that, each year, roughly 300,000 high school and college athletes are diagnosed with sports-related head injuries--but that number may be several times higher due to undiagnosed cases."

HEAD INJURIES are a hot topic today in sports medicine, with numerous studies pointing to a high prevalence of sports-related concussions, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, among youth and professional athletes. Now a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-invented tool is aiding in detecting and diagnosing concussions in real-time.

The American College of Sports Medicine estimates that, each year, roughly 300,000 high school and college athletes are diagnosed with sports-related head injuries--but that number may be several times higher due to undiagnosed cases. One-third of sports-related concussions among college athletes went undiagnosed in a study by the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consistently has referred to the rise of sports-related head injuries as a national epidemic.

MIT alumnus Ben Harvatine, who suffered several head injuries as a longtime wrestler, has started selling the Jolt Sensor, which detects and gathers data on head impacts in realtime. Commercialized through Harvatine's startup Jolt Athletics, the sensor now is being used nationwide by teams from grade-school to college levels, and is being trialed by professional teams. "We're trying to give parents and coaches another tool to make sure they don't miss big hits, or maybe catch a hit that doesn't look that big but measures off the charts," Harvatine says.

The Jolt Sensor essentially is a small, clip-on accelerometer that can be mounted on an athlete's helmet or other headgear to measure any impact an athlete sustains. When the athlete receives a heavy blow, the sensor vibrates and sends alerts to a mobile app, which is monitored by coaches or parents on the sidelines.

The app lists each player on a team wearing the sensor. Filtered to the top of the list are players that receive the biggest hits, players with the most total hits, and players with above-average hits compared to their past impacts. If a player sustains a hard hit, the player's name turns red. and an alert appears telling the coach to evaluate that player. The app includes a concussion symptom checklist and cognitive assessment test. "We can't be overly diagnostic, but we do our best to communicate the urgency that that...