Unfortunately, for those who endure dangerously hot summer football practices, it is hard to know just how high their temperature gets. The problems are compounded in the hotter climates, such as the southeast, with soaring humidity and temperatures nearing 100. There are warning signs of heat stroke that coaches and trainers look for such as confusion, dizziness, headaches and nausea, but it is often too late to prevent serious heat related illnesses and worse, death. Fortunately, help is on the way.
Hothead Sports of Atlanta, Ga. has developed The HOT system which stands for Heat Observation Technology. The HOT system consist of a built in RFID (radio frequency identification) enabled heat sensor that transmits a players body temperature to coaches and trainers in live time on the field. The sensor is inconspicuously embedded in the players helmet to make contact with the skin over an artery on the players temple. When the player puts on his helmet, the sensor tag begins sending data to a portable data collector in live time.
Heat stroke has killed 33 football players (25 high school, five college, two professional and one recreational) players since 2005, according to the Annual Survey of Football Injuries study produced by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research.
Hothead Technologies' CEO, Jay Buckalew, holds one of the system's RFID tags wired to a temperature sensor.
Coaches and trainers using this system no longer have to guess when it is time to pull a player or administer precautionary measures to keepthem safe. If a players temperature goes over a preset point, the data collector will alert the sensor unit in the helmet to take temperature readings at a faster rate. An alarm will alert the operator and identify the player in danger.
Rick Lane, VP of Business Development at Hothead Sports, said that the technology will continue to evolve and transmit more data on players physical condition in the near future. Partnerships with companies like Schutt Sports will ensure that their product is able to be delivered and implemented with ease.
Do you know how hot your players are? This technology will save lives.
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Has there been any public discussion of the pricing for the sensors & software? With high school budgets continuing to shrink, a large financial investment would scare a lot of programs off no matter how great a benefit the system would be. It’s a great concept — similar to what NASA has used for decades with its astronauts — but before a school makes a large investment, more data needs to be made public which could help sway ADs to make the investment. For example, what kind of reliability studies have been done on the sensors? The harsh environment (i.e., inside the helmet) would almost be similar to the requirements of the auto industry (under-the-hood) requirements. It appears to a wonderful concept, but I would like to see more information on the technology itself.
Studies have been conducted at Kennesaw State University and the IRB studies will be published in July of 2009. The Price is $99 per player, per yr. for a team of 50 players. If you take this price into prospected it cost around $1.50 a day per player for a 3 month season. We also provide headband applications for all sports or for preseason conditioning. The sensor is a GE medical grade sensor that is highly sensitive, durable and used in hospital prenatal units. The technology that NASA used was an ingestible pill that has a short read range and very expensive. The ingestible pill is good for research but not very practical in an active environment. The Hot system has also been tested in correlation this system. Please visit our website for further information and there is a quote page on the website. Thanks for comments and questions! http://www.hotheadsports.com
Thanks for the info & Good Luck. Please keep your results from the trial runs at UGA and in the NFL “in the news”. There is no better marketing strategy to get financial committments from lean sources (i.e., high school budgets) than for them to see satisfied customers in the NFL and major college programs.
$5000 a year per team seems like small change if it could help to save just one life. Good article and best of luck to Hothead Sports with their forward thinking.
Is this technology being used in the college or Pro ranks? Those are the best endorsements and could really demonstrate the need as well as justify the cost even for small HS programs.
The H.O.T. system will be released to the NFL this fall and collegiate teams have already tested the system with great results. After the tragic death of Corey Stringer from the Minnesota Vikings, heat is a great concern for the NFL. It is difficult to put a price on safety, but Hothead Technologies goal was to try to make our device affordable to the masses and not just the elite. Looking at the cost of 1 trip to the hospital or a parent having to miss a day of work because their child experienced heat illness, $99 per year is really minimal. The cost per year is about the same as a pair of cleats. The safety of our kids, athletes, or anyone exposed to heat conditions is our main goal! Thank you for your comments and please visit our website at http://www.hotheadsports.com for further information.
$5000 a year per team seems like small change if it could help to save just one life. Good article and best of luck to Hothead Sports with their forward thinking.
The CorTemp(r) Ingestible temperature sensor has been used in sports physiology for over 20 years and is currently being sold to NFL and collegiate teams across the nation with great success and accuracy and is an affordable tool in the prevention of heat illness on the field. The system has been validated for use in sports applications throughout the years by objective research, not researchers employed or influenced by the Company.
Actually the previous blog is incorrect, the CorTemp(r) unit can be worn by the athlete on the field and the data can be transmitted to a sideline field PC up to a 300 ft. line of sight distance. We have used the long range field transmission system for the past five years and I understand the CT unit is also now miniaturized to adapt to more elite sports applications.
I would encourage everyone to read the fine line with any research that claims that the H.O.T product equates to true core body temperature as there is solid research in the sports market that external methods of temperature measurement i.e. temporal, tympanic, skin, etc. are not comparable to core temp in hot exercising environments….. a concern. This fact was called to my attention when I was considering the purchase of core body temperature monitoring products. A degree or half of a degree off can make a huge difference on the toll that heat illness can take on the body or reaction time needed to cool the athlete.
Much more validity research is required especially with an RF frequency being in such close proximity with the brain as well, FDA clearances, etc. Please don't confuse marketing research geared to sell a product with valid objective research by experts in the heat illness field.
It was mentioned that the CorTemp(r) product was used to test the H.O.T. product. That in itself is a testimonial that the CorTemp(r) product is the standard of core body temperature measurement in a sport environments regardless of price.
Thanks for allowing me to clarify. Good luck to all.