Data scientists are predicting sports injuries with an algorithm

31-March-2021 Outlook Nature

Data scientists are predicting sports injuries with an algorithm
Machine learning can tell athletes when to train and when to stop.
by Andrada Fiscutean

In 2005, 17-year-old aspiring footballer Alessio Rossi tore two ligaments in his right ankle during training for lower league Italian football club USD Olginatese. The injury ended his dream of playing at the highest level. Today, Rossi is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pisa, Italy, where he collects and analyses reams of data to help prevent players at top teams getting injuries of their own.

When Rossi was playing, his coaches’ instincts and experiences were all they had to predict whether he might receive an injury. Now, a footballer training with top-level teams, such as those in the English Premier League, will wear a tight top under their jersey outfitted with GPS, an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a digital compass. While they run drills, the sensors track their heart rate, speed and distance covered.

“We follow a team for an entire season, recording GPS data during training and matches,” Rossi explains. He then uses machine learning to try to detect patterns. “This gives us the probability that a player will get injured in the next days or next weeks.”

For the full article go to: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00818-1