With controversy surrounding concussions in the NFL growing by the day, the league is looking to come up with new and quicker ways to diagnose concussions. In an ideal world, any player with a concussion or concussion-like symptoms would not be allowed to play again until after they have fully recovered. The problem is diagnosing a concussion in the middle of a game is difficult, and for the most part players want to ignore them and get back onto the field. Roger Goodell said he expects iPads and other tablets to help with that in the near future.
“There are some tremendous professionals that are taking a very cautious and conservative approach that are making it safer for our troops, NFL players, girls soccer players and that you can manage the risk of concussions, that we can do more to prevent it and that we can understand it better to make sure you fully recover from these injuries,” Goodell said according to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King.
“The first thing to do is prevent it. That goes to rules, equipment. The second is our sideline assessment tools. We have made changes to that. There are some new technologies that make this very soon in the future where on a tablet, you can actually take a test on the sideline to determine (the concussion).”
Goodell also said tablets could help for spotting concussions, as officials will be able to send video of vicious hits or head shots to the sidelines for doctors to evaluate to determine if a player needs to take the iPad test. While the technology may help and the use of spotters has helped point out potential concussion-like symptoms, it won’t solve the problem of players lying. If a player is effective in showing doctors that he is fine and does not report his symptoms, there will still be little doctors, spotters, or iPads can do for them.
Although they may bother Bart Scott, it’s clear that iPads and other tablets have become a very useful tool throughout the NFL in more ways than one.
