Wearable sports sensor will gauge the impact of head injuries

Reebok and MC-10 have announced this week the invention of a new wearable sports impact indicator that can gauge how serious a head injury might be when playing sports.

While Reebok and the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company MC10 are still very hush-hush about their thin adhesive fitness tracking sensor sticker, both companies announced this week the invention of a new wearable sports impact indicator that can gauge how serious a head injury might be when playing sports.

While details are scant, the technology is said to be housed inside a thin, breathable mesh skullcap that can be worn under any helmet.

"The impact sensor will presumably be able to hone in on the site and force profile of the impact (and, if it has a time measurement component incorporated, then the impulse profile as well)," writes Medgagdet. 

But how it works won't be confirmed until the product's commercial release next year. Either way, the goal is to help athletes -- of all skill levels, from amateur to professional -- and their coaches "determine if medical treatment or rest is needed before resuming play."

MC10 -- one of the leading companies designing wearable electronics, or wearatronics -- has made a name for itself by putting circuit boards on silicone, which can bend and stretch with the body, all in an effort to  revolutionize health and fitness sensor tracking. The technology can be used in a number of applications, such as a location and activity tracking device for kids, a tattoo-like sticker for diabetics to help detect hypoglycemia, or a first aid triage patch that can determine vital signs.

"If you think about how data is collected from the body, it's by using clunky straps and boxy equipment," MC10 CEO David Icke stated this summer. "MC10 is focused on advancing that so it's seamless, thin, invisible to the user and scalable for large scale manufacturing."

The product will be available to consumers in early 2013, say the companies.