SWA are dedicated to making sport safer by analysing objective data and deriving practical impactful insights. We believe that using quantitative real life derived data should inform decisions and, as such, act as the bridge between research and pragmatic action. We want sport to thrive without affecting the true essence of the competition whilst providing an enhanced level of care for the athletes which will ultimately improve team performance.
The potential for both concussive and sub concussive injury becomes a personal risk to the player and a potent existential risk to these sports. There is considerable and growing public concern around this area and high-profile media reports of how repeated blows to the head are causing traumatic injury and, in extreme cases, death creating challenges for participation numbers at all levels of these sports.
Despite the urgent need for reliable data detailing the exact demands of head contact there has been no way of measuring or interpreting this until now. Objective surveillance can inform future rules and laws, training or playing practices and this is where SWA can help improve safety of these athletes whilst making a significant contribution to the future of these sports.
SWA aim to provide clean, accurate, quantifiable and consistent data around the head contact demands of the sport and to derive practical insights based on this data to help improve athlete welfare and safety. This information is provided immediately to allow intervention where required and help reassure when appropriate.
The practical implementation of science is at the core of the PROTECHT system which provides a detailed dashboard in real time and an out of the box analytics capability for post activity review.
In order to collect the data, SWA has developed a solution that is independently validated, relying on cutting edge technology and world leading sport science insights.
SWA use a series of sensors in a conventional mouthguard typically used in contact sports, directly coupled to the skull to ensure there are no erroneous readings from skin, clothing or equipment. On contact, the mouthguard immediately emits the full recording of the head acceleration and rotation. The full recording of the impact, rather than just the maximum values, allows SWA to have calibrated the system to the demands of the sport, remove all noise, automatically identify what impact has occurred where on the head or body and immediately quantifying the intensity of this event through an easy to understand taxonomy.
The system can bring together other forms of unstructured data to allow the user to analyse all information in new and innovative ways.
SWA is focused on the collection of real time, clean and consistent data which is expertly analysed and interpreted to develop practical, pragmatic insights and recommendations that can be used to enhance the safety and performance of athletes whilst providing useful insights to the governing bodies and legislators as they consider future regulations and sport development.
SWA has three main philosophies which drive the PROTECHT system and distinguish ourselves above all other competitors.
The PROTECHT system has been validated and peer reviewed independently to the very highest level to ensure our users had absolute certainty regarding the accuracy of the data. To allow a deeper level of analysis PROTECHT reports a full wave formation for each impact which has allowed our Sport Scientists to calibrate the system to the individual demands of each sport and allowed the automatic removal of false and non contact instances to ensure the data reported is clean and calibrated and rapidly applicable.
Applying scientific research and principles to determine practical outcomes and insights from the data generated by the PROTECHT system is critical to all that we do. Above all else, PROTECHT is about using the data in new and exciting ways that can impact materially on both athlete safety and welfare but also on their performance. Whilst there is limited literature available in this field as our technology is new, there are philosophies in the physical demands of sport which can be applied to the head impact data. SWA use this existing research and apply it to contact and head impact in a new and innovative way, never before possible and is leading the thinking in this area.
It is crucial that all of the technology and insights developed are focused on the athlete and their coach and our solution deliver answers to their real-life problems. Our Sport Scientists work in partnership with federations, teams or individual athletes to ensure data delivers to the exact needs of the individual programme. The PROTECHT system also has the ability to bring together other data collected from other sources and allow full cross analysis in a quick and straightforward manner.
Implementation of PROTECHT helps manage head contact in a more sophisticated way. Teams will have a healthier roster to select from but guided by data they and individual athletes can help to prepare themselves for optimum levels for performance; prepared enough to be able to cope with the demands of competition whilst rested enough to allow peak performance and mitigate the risk of injury.
By the practical application of science using the data collected and the insights derived by the PROTECHT system, SWA can make the athlete, the sport and its future safer. Contact sports are challenged on how to maintain the core values of their sport whilst also making it safer and with PROTECHT providing valid, reliable, objective data the power to make these changes are possible.
The benefits of using PROTECHT are shared across all activities. Below we provide examples of how PROTECHT implicates various stakeholders in the sport.