Top inventor a big HIT
The 2007 winner of TIME magazine Inventor of the Year was a speaker at the Sport Kinesiology, Injury Prevention and Performance Seminar held at the AUT Millennium Campus on Thursday 20 October.
Professor Trey Crisco from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Rhode Island University, USA was the keynote for the “lower limb injury biomechanics and surgery” four hour seminar programme that involved a number of leading experts in biomechanics and orthopaedic surgery.
Other speakers included Dr Thor Beiser, Senior Fellow Research, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Orthopaedic surgeons Dr Bruce Twaddle and Dr Matt Brick and SPRINZ Clinics Manager Professor Patria Hume.
Professor Crisco won the prestigious award for his invention the “HITS Football Helmet” or the Head Impact Telemetry System for concussion research.
Technology is used to analyse concussions
HITS is a software system originally designed to help detect potential concussion type collisions of American football players.
Professor Crisco led a discussion on the improvements in helmet technology and a reduction of head impact exposures in American Football which he said will be important for reducing the fatalities from head injuries in football. That led to an interesting discussion on patellofemoral pain, where he suggested that it may be a metabolic issue where more research is needed.
It was a big two days for the Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand staff as the following day they hosted International Olympic Committee president Dr Jacques Rogge at the opening of the sports laboratories and clinics.
SPRINZ will host a number of international experts at the Strength and Conditioning Conference on 17 and 18 November at the North Shore Campus.