Prevention
Smart helmets to protect hockey players
An EPFL start-up has developed a sensor system that can detect concussions in the event of an impact. The LHC and HC Ajoie are testing them.
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Tom Bertrand and Mathieu Falbriard, founders of Bearmind, hope to equip NHL players with their helmets.
Alain Herzog/EPFL
In hockey charges are part of the game. However, these actions are not without consequences. During the 2016/2017 season, the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation took stock: 104 concussions were recorded in the two highest leagues. In most cases, treatment by a doctor and a few days of rest allow athletes to have no sequelae.
But many shocks are underestimated because of the minor symptoms they cause at first. In addition, repeated and poorly managed impacts can cause serious long-term neurological damage. Gradually, the sports world is becoming aware of the problem and is looking for measures. Flexible bands or better padded helmets have, for example, been considered.
Sensors in protective foam
Former athletes, the co-founders of the spin-off Bearmind have chosen to put their scientific skills at the service of prevention. Their helmet equipped with sensors alerts, via an application, the players and their entourage on the force, the frequency or the severity of the shocks. From next season, the protective foam itself, developed by the start-up, will serve as a pressure sensor.
The start-up is aiming high: it hopes to very soon complete its first fundraising of 1.3 million Swiss francs concluded at the beginning of March, and to equip players across the Atlantic within two years before developing its system for d other sports.
The smart helmets from the start-up Bearmind are currently worn by some players from two French-speaking national league teams: the Lausanne Hockey Club and HC Ajoie. These protections differ from their counterparts only by a small cap clipped to the back which will disappear from next season. “The pressure sensors will be integrated into the protective foam that lines the interior: an innovation that we recently patented”, specifies Mathieu Falbriard, co-founder and CEO. They make it possible to quantify the impacts and offer the athlete as well as his entourage, via an application, analyzes and detailed indications as to the force and the moment of the shocks received.
Take out a player following the shock
Developed at EPFL’s Movement Analysis and Measurement Laboratory, in particular by Mathieu Falbriard, one of the co-founders, the algorithms used by Bearmind compile the data of all players, allowing not only to give real-time indications on the shock suffered by one of them, but also to compare this data with an average. This information can be used to shorten a player’s game, optimize training programs, prevent injuries and improve performance. “Ultimately, our system will allow the athlete and his team to have a follow-up of neurological health, in the same way as we take care of the physical or the mental”, underlines Tom Bertrand, co-founder COO of the ‘business.
The explanation of the operation and usefulness of the smart helmet.
EPFL
For Eric Walsky, coach of the Geneva-Servette under-20 team, shocks in hockey are “a risk worth taking”. The serious concussion he suffered and which forced him to put an end to his career does not take away the enthusiasm he has for the sport, but it has made him particularly attentive to the fact that the symptoms ( headaches, dizziness or nausea for example) are often underestimated by athletes and those around them.
They resume competition too soon
However, the long-term consequences can be serious. If these injuries are not treated properly or if other shocks occur before the first has healed, they can progress to chronic traumatic encephalopathy: serious cognitive, emotional and behavioral disorders that can last a lifetime. “Athletes too often have a tendency, sometimes pushed by those around them, to resume training and competition too early”, underlines the coach. The smart helmet can thus serve as a safeguard since it will make it possible to quantify and objectify the data in the short, medium and long term.
The prototype is the subject of a clinical study carried out with the CHUV, and financed by Innosuisse, in order to validate the system as a medical device. “During this season, the players followed regular checks: a functional MRI at the start and end of the season, as well as in the event of trauma and a monthly cognitive evaluation”, explains Mathieu Falbriard. The first results are expected by the end of the year.