Wireless pill might help NFL players beat heat

ST. PAUL, Minn. - (KRT) - Former Minnesota Vikings offensive lineman Korey Stringer is the only NFL player to die of heatstroke.
Four years after he collapsed during training camp, the Vikings are exploring the use of a "radio pill" that would allow trainers to monitor players' body temperatures while they practice.
"We've been discussing it for months," Vikings trainer Chuck Barta said earlier this week. "We've been looking at different information. We're looking to see if we'll use it this year.
The system was developed by Palmetto, Fla.-based HQ Inc., and already is used by the Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars. - NFL Football -
"It's been a good measuring tool for us to help prevent heat illness," Jaguars head trainer Mike Ryan said. "Any time you're in Florida in the summer, it's always a concern."
It gets hot in Mankato, too, and the Vikings open camp there on July 29. It was 84 degrees with a heat index of 97 the morning Stringer collapsed during conditioning drills. He had a body temperature of 108.8. Stringer was treated by a team of doctors for 14 hours before his organs shut down one by one and he died at Immanuel St. Joseph's Hospital at 1:50 a.m., Aug. 1, 2001.
Stringer was just 27. An autopsy determined he died of multiple organ failure because of heatstroke. - NFL Football -
The new technology has gained notice in the wake of heat-related tragedies that have claimed the lives of Stringer as well as college and high school players over the past few years.
"We're always interested in looking at things that could help as far as the safety of our athletes," said Barta, who declined to estimate when the Vikings might decide on the system called CorTemp. - NFL Football -
At the system's heart are the pills, which contain a sensor and are ingested by the players and wirelessly transmit their core temperatures to a hand-held device.
"It basically has a crystal in it whose frequency is proportional to a temperature," HQ Inc. President Bill Hicks said. "As the temperature increases, the frequency increases and vice versa." - NFL Football -
Ryan said the Jaguars give the pills to certain players based on several variables, the biggest being whether they have a history of heat-related problems. He said players should take a pill at least two hours before practice, though the sensor begins transmitting temperatures as soon as it enters the body.
Hicks said food in the stomach area could affect the accuracy of the readings. Once it reaches the intestines, a process that can take several hours, the pill delivers a true core temperature.
"It can stay in the body for a couple of days and the pill itself can operate for nine days," Hicks said. "But generally, in the case of football players, the food's going to push through more quickly and therefore the pill's going to probably push through more quickly. So, as a general rule, it's a 24-hour, one-day pill." - NFL Football -
Each pill costs around $40, though HQ Inc. sales/marketing manager Susan Smith said the price tag varies according to volume and NFL teams pay closer to $30 a pill.
"The team would be required to buy probably several hundred of them to do baseline information on their at-risk players," she said.
A base CorTemp system consists of temperature pills and generally two or three data recorders, priced at $2,500 apiece. The data recorders allow a trainer to read a player's temperature with each recorder accepting up to 99 sensors. - NFL Football -
For an additional $4,000, a team can purchase a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a hand-held computer that allows one trainer to centrally monitor all players while their individual core temperatures are being taken by assistants. - NFL Football -
"It's a long-range system that interfaces with the PDA," Smith said. "You can have multiple athletic trainers or interns out in the field taking temps of up to 99 players. It's all sent back on a radio frequency to the PDA and the head team doc or some medical person can actually view all the players in real time." - NFL Football -
The technology has existed since the mid-1980s, but the product was developed for use in the space shuttle and only in recent years has it moved into the field of sports physiology. Several college programs use the system, including Illinois, Florida and Virginia Tech.
The Eagles have used the system for two seasons, the Jaguars for one. Smith said the company has been talking to the Vikings, Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers.
Eagles director of football media services Derek Boyko said Philadelphia trainers pulled a defensive lineman with no signs of heat stress off the field during a training camp practice last summer because he had a core temperature reading of 105.7. He later resumed activities.
The Jaguars will use the system again this season. "It seems to work well within our setting," Ryan said. - NFL Football -

DON SEEHOLZER AND JOHN SHIPLEY
Knight Ridder Newspapers