As sport across the world becomes more intense, the leagues and individual clubs involved have a greater duty of care to their athletes. The players are pushed to their physical and mental limits at times, so it’s vital they are properly looked after.
This is why sports science has become so essential. The practice has been in place for some time, but it’s only recently that there has been such a huge focus on its actions. Most sports now employ sports scientists, but the NFL, with its punishing schedule and extreme physical tests, is a perfect example of how this works.
Crucial Plays
While the NFL has clear origins in North America, the sport has a global following. Matches are now played outside of the USA with England, France, Germany and Mexico part of the overseas program.
Sponsors and financial partners bring additional funding into the sport, and the revenue has increased since sports betting opened up in the US in 2018. Certain sportsbooks have established commercial partnerships with the NFL, while they publish moneyline, props, and NFL MVP odds for customers to consider.
The MVP award is highly sought after, and only the top athletes in the league will receive such an accolade. It’s another area where sports science helps players to lift their game, and give them the edge over their competitors.
Early Days
Although it’s been shown that sports science was employed, to a degree, in ancient Olympiads, it’s considered a relatively recent phenomenon. Athletes have long been aware of how diet plays a part in performance, but recent advances in technology have taken the practice to a whole new level.
One of the biggest changes involves the focus on individual athletes and the awareness that everyone responds differently to exertion and injuries. Teams will still train as a group, but the needs of those individuals are part of the reason why sports science is so effective in the modern era.
Big Innovations
One of the most important innovations in the development of sports science is the introduction of wearable technology. All players will now wear GPS trackers which monitor their movement across a game.
Those trackers can do more, however, than simply measure distance. By monitoring heart rates, they can establish when the fatigue factor begins to affect certain players. Once the game is over, the individual players’ workloads can be managed according to their physical exertion on the field.
Separate training routines will be involved, in order to make sure that each member of the roster is in peak physical condition ahead of the next match. Wearable tech shows just how far sports science has come in a relatively short period of time. Instead of working with a team, it recognizes that each player is different and requires their own fitness and training regime.
Prevention Better Than Cure
Despite technology’s best efforts, there will always be occasions when injuries are unavoidable. The tech can, however, reduce the risk of certain conditions by monitoring each player’s work on the field.
Current systems can identify the type of movements that lead to injuries. Specific players may be prone to certain problems based on their physique, and any previous concerns, along with other factors.
Having identified any potential problems, coaches can work out a training plan for the player involved. This may work on strengthening the area of concern, with a view to preventing any problems moving forward.
Elsewhere, concussion is an issue under the spotlight in various sports. Its seriousness may have been overlooked in the past, but that isn’t the case today. Modern NFL helmets contain sensors that measure any on-field impact. If there is any hint of a possible concussion, the player involved will be immediately withdrawn for assessment.
New Techniques
Sports science has also evolved to give NFL players different ways of treating injury, and these have led to faster recovery times. Cryotherapy is one of the new techniques being employed across the league, and it involves the use of extremely cold temperatures to treat damaged and diseased tissue.
Hydrotherapy has been around for longer, but it’s become more prevalent in the NFL in recent years. This technique uses water to treat injuries in a number of ways and it may involve ice packs, warm baths, or pressurized jets on the damaged area.
As interest in the NFL grows around the world, the demands of the league increase. Players have to be at their peak fitness to compete, while their team has a duty of care while they are on their books.
That’s why sports science has changed so dramatically over the years. Early techniques including diet regimes may still have a role to play, but the practice has had to move with the times. Technology will, however, continue to evolve and build on the techniques that we’ve seen here.
