put you in a flotation tank because
that balances them. If you’re extremely
fatigued, I’m going to put you in the
photobiomodulation table because I need
to reduce your oxidative stress at the
cellular level.”
Even though the AMP program has
not reached a full year yet, WVU’s wom-
en’s soccer team is already seeing a major
improvement. Thanks to the program’s
focus on injury reduction, the team has
had approximately 80 percent fewer in-
juries like ACL tears compared to years
past. WVU’s football team has also fully
bought into the program for its benefits.
“Working with the football team’s
strength and conditioning coaches, they
were already pulling great data, but we
are upping it,” says Galster. “I think we
have set the team up for success. We’re
helping them and demonstrating that they
can be as ready as possible by game time.”
Results on the Battlefield
When it comes to the military, there
are many risks for injury. Some military
personnel go through intense, extreme
training in order to be part of a special
operation’s unit, such as the Navy SEALs,
Army Rangers or Air Force Pararescue
Team. With this type of training, the
likelihood of injury skyrockets.
One common type of injury is heat
injury or casualty, where the heart rate
goes up to 170 or above and doesn’t come
down, often causing trainees to pass out.
Through the program, Galster and his
team began identifying sensors to indi-
cate when a trainee is experiencing heat
injury. They ultimately decided to use
Zephyr, a pod-type device trainees wear
on a strap around their chest to monitor
their heart rate.
“If we had a class of 20 going on an
8-mile ruck march with 120 pounds on
their backs, we would outfit them before
their march,” he says. “We would give the
instructor who is following them a tablet,
and they would be able to monitor their
heart rates in real time. We would also
do analytics on that heart rate so they
know who to pay attention to.”
The ability to maintain a reduction in
heat stress, heat injuries and other heat-
related problems is a concrete demon-
stration that the sensing, assessment and
augmentation are working.
WVU athletic training staff member Darl Bauer demonstrates transcranial direct current
stimulation, or TDCS, which is a form of neuromodulation where low-level currents are directed
to specific parts of the brain to increase cognitive performance. The headphones are used
to deliver the TDCS, and data is collected with a smartphone. Photo by WVU Medicine.
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