SyncThink, a world leader in neuro-technology, announces today that its first medical device EYE-SYNC, will be used at Indiana University for a study on sub-concussive head impacts conducted by Assistant Professor, Keisuke Kawata. Kawata has been working on sub-concussion studies and has drawn significant attention in the linkage between eye movement and repetitive impacts in football players.
EYE-SYNC has been employed in a number of sports and clinical settings, producing fine ocular-motor parameters centering around smooth pursuit attention tasks. SyncThink has validated the technology with thousands of athletes and soldiers. Previous works from the company and others show that the ocular-motor system is a significant impairment in concussion.
“Detection of subclinical neural impairments following repetitive sub-concussive head impacts is a study that’s extremely important in the medical and sports verticals. From a sideline setting any added studies and information that can be immediately accessed will assist in keeping our athletes safer and help with recovery plans or return-to-play decisions,” said Daniel Beeler, CTO of SyncThink.
The study by Kawata will work to fill the critical void in the area of sub-concussive head impacts, and the EYE-SYNC device will provide valuable metrics in his research for ocular-motor perturbation after sub-concussive head impacts. The SyncThink team will assist in any technological and analytical processes throughout the study.
“By tracking sub-concussive impacts combined with various parameters, we have witnessed a glimpse, but plausible hope that some modalities could predict a concussion before it occurs,” said Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Indiana University, Keisuke Kawata. “It is of my priority to establish brain-injury specific objective markers that to ensure soldiers and athletes' safety while sustaining highest level of performance.”
Kawata will employ the EYE-SYNC device to study sub-concussive effects in competitive divers as well as using a controlled soccer-heading model. Changes in eye movement parameters will be correlated with sustained head impact kinematics. The study will begin February 2017. The study will be further extended to high school football and ice-hockey in the near future.
About SyncThink:
Founded in 2009 by Dr. Jamshid Ghajar, MD, PhD, FACS, Director of the Stanford Concussion and Brain Performance center and President of the Brain Trauma Foundation, SyncThink is one of the world leaders in neuro-technology with foundational IP in eye tracking metrics and devices. Based in Boston, SyncThink works with a strong group of dedicated scientists, engineers and business experts with the goal of empowering people with effective tools to monitor and optimize their brain health. EYE-SYNC is available for purchase via the SyncThink website. For more information please visit: www.syncthink.com
