In April 2014 we covered a technology developed by MuscleSound that allows athletes to monitor their physical energy level by measuring skeletal muscle glycogen. Their Chief Operating Officer, Julie Manthey, discussed the science behind the technology and the need for this type of product.
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Manthey explained that through the use of ultrasound technology, muscle glycogen content can be measured in seconds. When asked how many pro and college sports teams consistently measure the glycogen levels of their players, Manthey responded that most trainers and nutritionists are very knowledgeable about muscle glycogen content and speak to the players regularly about its importance, but they did not have a way to measure it until the development of this product. She said, “With the scientific history of glycogen research and now the means to measure it, we believe MuscleSound’s technology will become widely used.”
It appears Ms. Manthey’s conjecture was correct.
MuscleSound has announced that Oregon State, University of Colorado and University of South Carolina will start to use MuscleSound to measure and analyze the glycogen levels of their athletes.
MuscleSound allows team directors and nutritionists to measure their athletes’ nutritional levels, making it easier and more efficient to develop proper nutrition plans that can improve performance, while decreasing the risk of soft tissue injury. While always important, this has become something critical to teams, especially since the NCAA deregulation of the feeding of student athletes.
“In the wake of the NCAA’s deregulation of the feeding of student athletes, teams are investing in new ways to optimize each athlete’s nutritional needs,” said MuscleSound CEO Stephen Kurtz. “By enabling team directors to understand the nutritional needs of each player in real-time, MuscleSound is maximizing the ROI of nutritional plans—and of the players themselves. We’re excited that we’re on our way to becoming the gold standard of nutritional optimization and soft-tissue injury prevention in college sports.”
The NCAA teams are very enthusiastic about using MuscleSound. One university has already been using it for some time. “We had the opportunity to work with MuscleSound over the past two years testing our players’ glycogen levels regularly each week,” said University of Colorado Head Athletic Trainer Miguel Rueda. “Knowing our players’ glycogen levels helped us to decrease our injury rates and it helped us to adjust our nutritional programs, training loads and practice structures to the needs of the players as those needs evolved throughout the season.”
Oregon State University Sr. Assoc. Athletic Director, Dr. Doug Aukerman, said, “With MuscleSound, our teams have taken the guesswork out of the fueling and recovery process.” John Kasik, Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine at the University of South Carolina, had this to say, “MuscleSound enables us to provide each of our athletes a customized plan with muscle-specific data allowing for personalized nutritional and training recommendations.”
Injury prevention is also key to athletic organizations, particularly pro teams – an issue not lost on Kurtz. There were a record-breaking number of missed games by starters just two seasons ago, costing professional organizations millions of dollars. The makers of MuscleSound understand that the prevention of injuries would save teams those millions.
Pro teams such as the Colorado Rockies and Dallas Mavericks along with worldwide Olympic teams and soccer clubs from the UK already use MuscleSound. Since sports are copycat leagues it will be interesting to monitor how quickly other teams elect to use MuscleSound for injury management purposes.