MotusQB And The NFL: Wearable Tech Could Prevent Arm Injuries

The MLB may have been the first major sports league to use Motus Global’s wearable sleeve to prevent injuries, but the wearable technology will soon be used by the NFL.

motusQB is a compression arm sleeve or arm band that features a 3D sensor that records raw 3D movement data of the throwing arm and transmits that data to a mobile app via Bluetooth, during or after a training session. motusQB’s mobile app then determines biomechanics metrics of the quarterbacks throw and stores them to the analytics dashboard for deeper analysis.

Motus Global, a company focused on advanced biomechanics analysis, helps athletes, coaches and trainers prevent injury and improve performance launched motusQB on Monday.

“We saw the success that players and coaches were having with motusTHROW in baseball and it seemed natural to develop a product for quarterbacks,” Joe Nolan, CEO of Motus Global, told IBTimes, “All kinds of athletes, and especially quarterbacks, can benefit from monitoring the workload on their elbow or shoulder.”

Motus’ advanced analytics focuses on acute and chronic elbow workload trends. Daily workload is measured by accumulating the amount of stress placed on the elbow from all throws in a day, with Motus’ algorithm. An acute workload is measured as a one-week average of daily load while a chronic workload is measured as a one-month average.

“When players experience periods of high acute workload, their ratio will be greater than 1.0. When a player reaches dangerous levels (greater than 1.3) or severe levels (greater than 1.7), interventions are made in their training regimens. These interventions can be in the form of rest, or gradual throwing volume lowering, as suggested by Motus' biomechanics algorithms,” explains Nolan.

Over time, players and coaches will be warned when acute workloads begin to spike and surpass chronic workloads, and daily training regimens can then be adjusted to keep athletes within optimal training volumes.

Motus Global product line includes motusPRO and motusTHROW, which was recently renamed motusBASEBALL.

motusPRO delivers performance assessments, which allows batters and pitchers to monitor mechanical trends during the season. For rehabilitation throwing injuries, motusPRO measures mechanics and provides feedback. This makes it easy for athletic training and medical staff to create custom, return-to-play schedules and throwing programs.

motusBASEBALL has been used by MLB pitchers and hitters to track player performance. An interactive bullpen analyzes consistency while identifying flaws across various pitch types. The UCL workload monitor has been used by 27 MLB organizations and is the first tool aimed at combating UCL tears, which lead to Tommy John Surgery.

A spokesperson for Motus Global, told IBTimes, “We’ve begun testing with several different NFL teams, but at this time, we aren’t able to share which teams.”

Nolan hopes the company’s products will be used to predict and prevent injuries to quarterbacks. Motus and NFL have the same goals, which is keeping players on the field. It would be another solid partnership for Motus to add to their list.

Nolan says the lab is also currently working with athletes from soccer, basketball, lacrosse, track and field and cricket. Motus Global products work beyond sports, “ we conduct analysis for physical therapy, military training and workplace safety. We expect to expand our wearable offering into some of these segments in 2017,” said Nolan.

motusQB mobile app is only available for iOS, but will eventually make its way to Android. motusQB retails for $150 and is available on Motus Global’s website.

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