AI and injury prevention: what it can really do
At many professional clubs players train wearing a vest with GPS and motion sensors. It records how many metres they run, at what speed, and how many sprints and accelerations they make.
With this data, fitness coaches manage workload. A widely used idea is to compare the load of the last few days with that of the last few weeks: a sudden jump is often linked to a higher risk of muscle injury.
Artificial intelligence helps to combine many signals at once: load, sleep, how the player feels, injury history or minutes played. The model diagnoses nothing; it flags who deserves a closer look.
Decisions such as reducing intensity, resting or running tests are made by the doctor and the fitness coach, together with the player.
In amateur football you do not need an expensive vest to start: logging minutes, perceived effort and aches in a sheet already shows when someone is carrying too much.