A couple years back when visiting Texas, I came across this sport scientist with FC Dallas, Skylar Richards, who showed me how he was using this technology to provide insight into injury risk and also the intensity of a workout. I found it fascinating, so I thought I would share these musings with you.
It is a non-invasive way to measure surface skin temperature/radiation using special infra-red cameras, an exemplar photo shown above. Typically, IRT imagery has been used for medical diagnosis such as breast cancer, peripheral vascular disorders, etc. In a sport science context, these heat signatures or temperature patterns have been used to detect inflammation and or injury, atypical heat classification-injury scale can be seen below.
By taking infra-red photos at the end of football matches, Skylar over time collected an extensive library of photos of his players, and this coupled with other data sets allowed him to develop insights into risk of injury and effects of chronic inflammation that could lead to more serious issues. These photos showed a number of “hot spots”on the players, and much of his post-match recovery strategies were used for“putting out these fires” by dampening the red spots in their recovery lab and/or at home. For example, the left hamstring and calf would have been a focus given the opening imagery in this article. Because of the near real time feedback from this technology, he also used IRT prior to practices to inform him as to the efficacy of the recovery strategies, the diligence and adherence of his players in addressing the tissue issues, and therefore what a particular practice/program might look like for a player.
As an aside, Skylar also mentioned it was quite easy to get an understanding on how intensely a player trained or worked out. For example, you might prescribe a leg workout, and then post workout you take a picture and the players legs should light up like aChristmas tree. If not, then perhaps an extra 5-10 minutes muscular work is warranted. A less exact science, but an interesting application, nonetheless.
So where is the technology at? Apparently, the temperature sensitivity, measurement speed and spatial resolution of the cameras is ever improving and so therefore is the diagnostic potential of this technology. As with all technologies, we need to be aware of some of the limitations, which if interested, you can read about it in Fernandez-Cuevas et al (2015). However, all things considered, for static assessments as above, I think IRT has many beneficial applications in sport science, which will be further enhanced withAI and machine learning approaches. Interestingly the use of IRT is being explored with more dynamic assessments, so if you are interested, try Hillen et al. (2020)for a recent review in this area.
Three things to finish. First, I am providing information second-hand, Skylar is on LinkedIn, so reach out if you want first-hand info from a guy who has immersed himself in this technology for years. Second, this post is a superficial introduction of IRT and we can take a deeper dive depending on feedback. Finally, thanks for the warm welcome on LinkedIn, it was humbling for a newbie. Best of all I got to say hello to people I hadn’t heard from for years. Take care.
Acknowledgements: I would like to thank ThermoHuman for making the imagery available for this post.
JC Online provides online physical conditioning education for physiotherapists, strength and conditioning coaches and physical therapists. If you have any questions about our courses and other resources, please get in contact with us using the email above.
Please note that answers to many questions may be found in the FAQ section of this website. JC will endeavour to answer your questions but due to his work commitments and the high volume of emails received each day, he may be unable to respond to every email personally.
JC's team will coordinate and may respond on his behalf.
