U.S. Soccer Team uses GPS to Track Player Movement to Prevent Onset of Injury
U.S. Soccer Team Tracks Movement to Prevent Onset of
Injury
By Sonali Basak
Jul 1, 2014 7:21 AM PT
When the U.S. Men’s National Team runs onto the field
today in an elimination World Cup match against Belgium, doctors will track
their every footstep, leap and dribble.
Using matchbox-sized GPS tracking devices, team physician
George Chiampas can follow his players’ every move to help keep injuries at bay
-- especially those that could keep his best out of the tournament.
The technology helps measure the distances his players
run as well as their workload over time.
“That’s just one example of the data we use,” said
Chiampas, who oversees one of the world’s best-conditioned teams. “We have a
pool of physicians and sports administrative staff that look at that data. It’s
something moving forward as technologies improve and you have access to those
sorts of things.”
Since the team began playing the tournament, only one
player -- striker Jozy Altidore -- has been kept from matches, said national
men’s team spokesman Michael Kammarman. Greater regard for injury prevention
has contributed to the lower incidence of match injuries across World Cup teams
overall, according to data published after the 2010 tournament in a study led
by FIFA’s Chief Medical Officer Jiri Dvorak.
“I am most proud that FIFA understood the value of
medicine, that they support all the activity at least for the doctors,” Dvorak
said. For this, “prevention is the bed crown.”
Variety of Devices
Sports medicine doctors are tracking player information
through a variety of devices including some that can strap to the players’
head, according to Michael Terry, an orthopedic surgeon at Northwestern
Medical, where he is a colleague of Chiampas. Some can help identify how much
REM sleep a player is getting, Terry said, while chest monitors can track
breathing when sleeping. This is to help monitor fatigue, he said.
FIFA is now expecting fewer than two injuries per game in
this year’s tournament, down from 2.7 injuries per match based on data ranging
back to 1998, Dvorak said in a telephone interview from Brazil. The lower
incidence was also attributed to less foul play and stricter refereeing.
On the U.S. team, there’s a staff of at least 10 doctors
and coaches that are all responsible for player health, and they are measuring
players’ heart rates, hydration, and movements during running, jumping and
playing to improve efficiency.
“When you talk about injury prevention and the doctor
using GPS, it’s part of the overall package,” said Kammarman. “All these
technologies and tools didn’t exist in the past and they give you a much more
specific picture. These tools aren’t just for injury prevention measures,
they’re also for performing.”
Energy Use
GPS systems have typically been used for coaches to track
positioning and they can also be used to track exertion and energy expenditure,
according to Terry. That information combined with other factors such as
cardiovascular efficiency and hydration can help staff work with players to
minimize risk of injury.
U.S. striker Altidore suffered a hamstring injury when
the U.S. faced its first game against Ghana and had to sit out on two other
matches -- ending with a draw for the U.S. against Portugal and a loss against
Germany. He will be available to play in the U.S.’s elimination match against
Belgium July 1. Since then, the team’s injuries have included broken noses for
forward Clint Dempsey and midfielder Jermaine Jones.
There are always going to be two or three injuries, said
Sunil Gulati, the U.S. Soccer Federation’s president. The harder part is losing
multiple players in the same position.
“The World Cup is a grind,” said Chiampas. “You have 23
players and you know you’re going to have some injuries.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Sonali Basak in
New York at sbasak7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reg
Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net Drew Armstrong
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