IBV and L’Alqueria LAB work to prevent knee injuries in basketball

• This is a technique that the Institute of Biomechanics has successfully used in football, gymnastics or handball
• The new EYESPORT project will prevent cross-ligament injuries in the knee in new high-performance sports
• Could anterior cruciate ligament injuries in basketball be prevented? This is one of the most frequent traumas in athletes, an injury that has a minimum period of absence of 6 months after which, in many cases, they do not recover their previous level of performance.
  Furthermore, in the long term, this injury could lead to the development of osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease that limits mobility and daily life. “These knee joint injuries have a high social, psychological and economic cost for athletes and their teams, which could be avoided”, says IBV’s Director of Sports Innovation, Enrique Alcántara.
  On this point, the Institute of Biomechanics (IBV) has developed different technologies used successfully in sports such as football, gymnastics or handball, which allow us to assess the functionality of the knee, in order to prevent and avoid this type of injury, as well as to facilitate its rehabilitation in case it happens.
  In order to adapt this technique to other sports as demanding as basketball, in which the rotational stability of the knee plays an important role, the IBV has initiated the EYESPORT project, in which it counts on the collaboration of the Valencia Basketball Foundation through L’Alqueria LAB.
  In this work, which has been presented to the Valencian Institute for Business Competitiveness (IVACE) for funding, the latest image recognition technologies will be used to improve the performance and safety of athletes in a wide range of environments.
• The objective is to have a system for the simple assessment of the rotational stability of the knee in the field of basketball, which is evaluated by means of a gesture that subjects the joint to a load similar to that of sports movement.
  “Traditionally, clinical tests have been used to assess the rotational stability of this joint, which are performed without measuring instruments, and are based on the patient’s medical history, with a high level of subjectivity on the part of the evaluating physician,” explains the IBV manager. In this case, it is a non-invasive assessment, which is carried out in less than 15 minutes, and in which the sportsman or woman performs a jump test with rotation that an Artificial Intelligence system recognizes and evaluates automatically and objectively.
  The Valencia Basketball Foundation, through L’Alqueria LAB, will participate in the feasibility studies for the implementation of the results. “The aim is to be able to detect a high risk of injury to the cruciate ligaments of the player’s knee, as well as to allow a safe return in high performance conditions after the injury”, adds Alcántara.
  For this purpose, IBV will work together with the Foundation in the identification of biomechanical variables capable of detecting the risk of injury in basketball players, as well as the study of different factors that can influence the stability of the knee, and thus be able to reduce the occurrence of serious injuries in the area.
  The Foundation will also participate in a session to evaluate the technology and its applicability to basketball, as well as the adaptation needs that arise. Afterwards, the results will be evaluated with athletes from the Valencia Basketball team.
  This validation will consist of carrying out non-intrusive knee assessment tests on a jumping platform. Finally, the results of the transfer will be evaluated with the Foundation, to determine their application and integration into their processes.
  
  The EYESPORT project also involves the companies Cespeval, Realturf, Neogym and the Ricardo Tormo Circuit to study, through real cases in the field of each of these entities, the use of different technologies for shape and movement recognition through Artificial Intelligence in high performance sport.
  Finally, the project “Application of image analysis techniques and artificial intelligence to improve health and efficiency in sport (EYESPORT)” has been presented to the IVACE call for aid to technology centres in the Valencian Community for the development of non-economic R+D projects carried out in cooperation with companies, under the budget for the year 2020, with co-financing from the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).