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| Our Mission |
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To collect and translate—often in collaboration with others—sports participation, injury and treatment data into more effective programs, policies, rules, and
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education aimed at preventing, mitigating, and treating sports
injuries more effectively. |
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| About Us |
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| A national, non-profit organization, Datalys Center conducts research—and provides research and surveillance expertise—to support the sports injury information needs of organizations and individuals focused on improving the health and safety of the growing number of Americans who are physically active and/or participate in sports. Formed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), BioCrossroads, and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), Datalys Center will serve a variety of constituencies, including academic researchers, sports governing organizations, the sports medicine community, policymakers, the media, and the general public. |
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| Our Origins |
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| For 25 years, the primary goal of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Injury Surveillance Program (ISP) has been to collect injury and exposure data from a sample of NCAA institutions in a variety of sports. This effort, which has resulted in the creation of the largest collegiate sports injury database in the world, has established the NCAA as a leader in student athlete injury surveillance and prevention. Datalys Center is a stand-alone organization—a spin-off from the NCAA’s ISP—that will leverage and continue the NCAA’s expertise and prominence in sports injury surveillance. The NCAA will continue its involvement with sports injury surveillance as the first collaborative partner of the Center. |
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Research and Translation—Examples of Impact from the NCAA Injury
Surveillance Program |
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| The data collection effort, combined with a unique review mechanism through the NCAA sport and policy committees, has led to advances in health and safety policy within and beyond college athletics: |
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The analysis of concussion injuries in ice hockey, that led to rule changes and officiating emphasis on reducing hitting from behind—and contact to the head (1995) |
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Modifications of permissible equipment and contact in spring football practices to reduce concussion and overall risk (1997) |
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Modifications of permissible equipment and multiple practice day schedules in preseason fall football practices to reduce heat illness and general injury risk (2003) |
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The addition of required eye protection in women’s lacrosse to reduce the small, but real risk of significant eye injury (2003) |
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Thirteen-year analysis of non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injuries in basketball and soccer players, that led to a focus on prevention efforts for female athletes—who have a higher risk for these types of injuries than their male counterparts. |
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