The Football Players Health Study at Harvard University has launched a ResearchKit project called TeamStudy to help former NFL players and the public better understand brain function, heart health, pain and mobility.
Former NFL players participated in the design of the app and so health issues that matter most to them have been included, such as memory, balance, heart health, pain and mobility. However, anyone with an iPhone can support the study of athlete health and help researchers better understand mentioned health issues.
As part of the process, TeamStudy is establishing a control group that includes both men and women, athletes and non-athletes. All study participants can interact directly with the Harvard research team, and will be able to receive results and statistics on the study findings; these findings will include reports on completed tasks and surveys, among other things.
“By bringing the Football Players Health study to this app, we’re able to easily capture data from participants all over the nation, enabling us to better understand the everyday experiences of former NFL players,” Alvaro Pascual-Leone, the principal investigator of TeamStudy, said in a statement. Pascual-Leone is also a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, chief for the Division of Cognitive Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and director of the Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation.
One of the former players who was involved in the design of the app, former linebacker with the Dallas Cowboys Dat Nguyen, said that he is looking forward to get answers on state of his health now that he’s no longer active in sports.
“This app will allow the Harvard team to take its work to another level–reaching perhaps thousands more former players and extending even further to fans, friends, spouses and other communities,” said another former player, Mark Herzlich, who was a linebacker for the New York Giants, and a member of the NFLPA Executive Committee. “Across the board, we’re seeing more mainstream interest in supporting player health. TeamStudy will allow everyone’s voice to be heard as app users perform simple activities and answer basic health questions.”