How Are Computers Used in Sports Medicine?

Sports medicine focuses on the study, prevention, and treatment of sport and fitness related injuries. Computer technology assists orthopaedic surgeons as well as sports medicine professionals who study injury prevention.

Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery

• Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery (CAOS) is a camera-guided surgical technique. Specially trained surgeons use CAOS to perform total joint replacements. CAOS may increase the surgeon's accuracy and reduce an athlete's healing time.

Injury Prevention Data Collection

• Human performance laboratories use computers to study body mechanics. Athletes in training wear movement-sensitive devices which transmit data to laboratory computers via wireless bluetooth technology. Resulting computer data points provide insights into the nature of joints and muscles in relation to sports-related injuries.

Robotics and Muscle Analysis

• Professor Yoshihiko Nakamura of the Information and Robot Technology Research Initiative (IRT) recently unveiled a 3-D human imaging system called "the magic mirror." Sixteen electromyograph instruments attach to the human body to produce computer-generated images of muscles in real time. Advancements in computer-assisted robotics provide new avenues for sports medicine professionals to study the human body.