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NBA is ready to adopt something new!

NBA to use sensors to track potential injuries

Wearable technology is all about the tendency to accumulate one thing into another. Simply, it means that with the new products coming over, we are combining the advantages of one area into another. For example, some smart watches combine the elegance of a watch with the fitness tracking and well being. While, some fitness trackers can report your daily sports activities directly to you.

This is how wearable tech industry is increasing, thriving and prospering day by day. This is the same strategy NBA is using. NBA, day after day, is turning towards the data fueling association. New and new data gathering products are introduced into the association in order to gather the information and statistics more clearly.

Like, Sports VU cameras that feeds in every move of the player through the game. That is how we, as an audience, came to know that Rajon Rondo made the most passes per game (76) and with that created the most assist opportunities per game (20) last season. Or, Damian Lillard and Andrew Wiggins averaged running 2.5 miles a game, the most in the league.

The calculations and analytics on one side, NBA teams are yet not satisfied with the amount of technology there players or games consume. Apart form the regular use of trackers, VU’s, and VR’s , NBA wants something novel that will them about the player’s data and potential injuries which can become serious threats.

This directly points towards the wearable tech, like the one team are already using during their practice session, but with more precision and clarity with reference to the data.

Zach Lowe write more about this in his writing for Grantland in which he said that NBA wants its players perfect to the extent that it is spending its own money for the d=sake of such GPS wearable devices that can outfit players during games. He also said that the league is funding a study, at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, of products from two leading device-makers: Catapult and STATSports.

Zach also defined about the upcoming new device as;

“Weighing less than an ounce, these devices are worn underneath a player’s jersey. They track basic movement data, including distance traveled and running speed, but the real value comes from the health- and fatigue-related information they spit out. The monitors track the power behind a player’s accelerations and decelerations (i.e., cuts), the force-based impact of jumping and landing, and other data points.”

After the data will be collected through the wearables, Team sports science experts will look into the data for any indication a player might be on the verge of injury or already suffering from one that hasn’t showed itself in any obvious way.

The device will be a wonder in itself. It will clearly highlight details like why a player is not able to produce the exact level of power, acceleration and heights on cuts and jumps as the way he do while simply playing. Those are considered as typical signs of fatigue. But, on the other hand, there is near-total agreement among medical experts that fatigued players are more vulnerable to all sorts of injuries. It means that while this product is significant in producing perfect players it is also harmful for the career of those players who otherwise would have pulled their energy for years, if not known that they are prone to some future wear and tear. This is the reason why this device needs approval. The players’ union will have to pass this wearable in order to be made compulsory for every team. They have already been used in the D-League, but teams want to use them in games.

While, this is going to end the career of many, consensus is that nobody is going to refuse the participation of this wearable in the games. Despite of the various questions which arose, still we all know that this technology is coming to NBA very soon.

What matters more and what is significant is that the teams learn to use the information in right direction and to value it fully. Well, let’s see how teams get advantage of this product to be superior over one another.

Kainaat Maqbool
The writer is a student of journalism, pursuing her passion for writing. She is an avid reader and wants to be a novel writer or a fashion editor someday!

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