Learn about an innovation for wearable compression garments that collects data. This case study appears in the certificate course titled "Compression Technologies" by ISTA's Professional Sports Technology Institute

1. Data Monitoring
Compression
Case Study
Javier is a Track and Field Coach at a D1 University. He is interested in
improving his team’s performance and preventing injuries by using
specific “in the action” individually targeted training.
He knows that if he can monitor a given athlete’s individual
performance metrics during training or a meet, he can adjust the
training and/or meet strategy in real time to ensure that every training
session meets the specific needs of a given athlete for improvement
while simultaneously avoiding over training and that during every meet
the team performs its best while avoiding injury.

2. Problem
2
Javier has an athlete that is returning to sport from a running injury on her
left side. He is not sure if she is ready to train at her previous levels, nor
is he sure she is ready to compete. He needs to be able to monitor
several important metrics during an early training session back on the
track in order to make a decision.
He needs to be able to watch this athlete’s gait, monitor her heart rate,
and watch for changes in left/right load as well as changes in stride length
as she fatigues.

3. Solution
3
Although Javier and the Physical Therapy and Athletic Training teams have assessed the athlete’s
readiness to return to sport (RTS) using standard RTS protocols in the athletic training room, Javier
knows that once the athlete begins running on the track, in an uncontrolled environment, that things
can change. He has learned that there is a type of compression garment that can be worn with
data monitoring devices and sensors inserted inside, and using sEMG and GPS data, these
devices can give coaches on the sidelines real time data about muscle activation, muscle
symmetry, heart rate, foot/leg turnover rate and stride length and other important training and
competition metrics. This enables the coach to monitor changes in athlete performance over time
during a training session or game. Using this information a coach can make real time decisions
based on the athlete’s individual performance during that session, his or her fatigue and/or risk of
injury, or in this case, re-injury.
A company that makes this type of data monitoring compression tool is STRIVE.

4. STRIVE
Sensors worn in compression wear which measure and facilitate optimization of muscle
performance with live biofeedback using EMG Technology:
● Locomotive efficiency: an athlete’s repeatable neuromuscular signature
● Left/right and anterior (front)/posterior (back) muscle load, muscle symmetry and
muscle ratios
● Imbalances or asymmetries that limit performance and can lead to injury
● Fatigue induced biomechanical and physiological changes
● Ability to monitor whether or not imbalances are improving or deteriorating over time
4

5. Product Uses
● Measure athletes’ muscle load, muscle symmetry, and muscle ratios
● Visualize imbalances or asymmetries
● Monitor whether imbalances are improving or deteriorating over
time and under load
● See immediate effects of fatigue during repetitive tasks,
play/competition and training
● Facilitate in the action intervention when necessary
5

6. Unique Features
 Measures external and internal muscle loads using nearly
invisible EMG sensors inside compression shorts to capture
amplitude in microvolts—a measurement of how many motor
units are recruited to perform a task: quadriceps, hamstrings
and glutes
 Provides insight into muscle symmetry and imbalances
 Captures muscle ratios, which can highlight musculoskeletal
disturbances from prior injury or muscle fatigue or exhaustion
which need to be addressed
 Objectively quantifies injuries when they occur
66