Sports Monitoring with Moving Aerial Cameras Maybe Cost Efficient For Injury Prevention

Abstract

Objectives: An Australian access economics report (2009) estimated the lifetime cost of care is 5.0 million for a person whom suffers paraplegia and 9.5 million for quadriplegia, and costs/year are approximately $90,000. Hilton )2018( on drones at sporting venues discusses their potential to revolutionize injury surveillance monitoring via expert exposure gained for recording, investigation, tracking and monitoring of sporting injuries. Hilton (2018) reviewed rugby union and league Australian spinal cord injury datasets, finding more incident cases in the union then league [1]. Methods/Analysis: Wikipedia reports 20 professional rugby union and 26 rugby league playing fields in Australia. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare document; Australian sports injury hospitalizations 2011–12 report just under 800 head and neck injuries requiring hospitalization related to rugby-related sports “35 neck fractures and 348 head fractures”. Brisbane’s leading drone aerial photography service “Droneworxs” according to previous enquiries by the author charge $650/hour to monitor a sporting event. A crude drone implementation cost estimate, hypothetically is to utilize this device across 46 professional clubs X 52 weeks one hour/week = $1,554,800. A basic hypothetical mathematical cost benefit comparison was performed. Findings: Droneworxs cost divided by healthcare costs/case/year ($90,000) = 17 so if these injuries are prevented then cost equivalence is reached figurately speaking, then cost benefits accrue. Novelty /Improvement: Drones are not overly expensive compared to spinal cord injury costs. The occasional presence of aerial cameras at sporting venues may also deter repeated foul play, in the same way that webcam cameras deter potential thieves.

Keywords

• spinal cord injuries
• football
• hospitalised injuries
• aerial cameras
• sports monitoring.