Detecting concussions with a simple spit test
HeadFirst, a company at Velocity, the University of Waterloo’s startup incubator, has developed a way to test for concussions using a simple saliva test. The process provides a rapid and accurate way to detect mild traumatic brain injuries.
The startup’s technology advances the traditional concussion tests that are largely subjective and could give athletes a way to circumvent a head trauma diagnosis, which ultimately leaves these injuries undetected and untreated. HeadFirst has developed a saliva-based concussion test to equip athletic departments, sports organizations, and healthcare facilities with objective results to treat athletes proportional to their injuries.
HeadFirst’s CEO and co-founder Andrew Cordssen-David was inspired to find a better way of testing concussions after playing competitive hockey for many years. An athlete’s competitive nature often incentivizes them to downplay symptoms to pass standard concussion tests and remain in the game, he said.
“I’ve gone through the subjective tests that exist today and I know that athletes are able to find a way around them to stay in the game,” Cordssen-David said. “What’s even more concerning is that up to half of these tests sometimes fail to detect concussions. The idea for HeadFirst began during my time studying at Waterloo where I asked myself, ‘Why do these subjective concussion tests consistently fail to identify concussions.’”
