Injury Detection and Prevention

Injuries in professional sports are a common occurrence, costing athletes and clubs in time and money. Football in particular has a high injury rate but all sports suffer their own related injuries. Injury prevention is of maximum priority to any athlete or team both as an individual welfare issue and the impact it has on the club.

Thermal imaging is unique in that it can detect potential injuries before any symptoms are felt. Using it as a screening tool it has the potential to make a significant impact on injury prevention. In recent studies in professional football teams, using this technology during preseason have reported reduction in injuries between 63 and 74%.

Blood flow distribution alters in response to signals from a injured site even in the very early stages and often well before any symptoms are felt. Therefore there is a window of opportunity between normal and feeling pain that thermal imaging can provide crucial information. Early intervention programmes from the club or athletes sports science team/physio can then be initiated based on the thermal imaging results.

In this example a football player requested thermal imaging to assess a prior contact injury to his calf. During the imaging the rest of his legs were imaged and a significant abnormal pattern was detected in his knees. The location of this abnormal pattern would normally suggest a ligament issue e.g. ACL or MCL or an issue with the meniscus. Had this striker continued to play without early intervention it could have resulted in a significant injury.