PHYSICIANS
RESOURCE CENTER
The PaceGuard may help to protect
the pacemaker in the young patient from injury.
Robert H. Pass, MD
Chief of Pediatric Cardiology - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Richard J. Golinko Endowed Professor of Pediatric Cardiology - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Children's Hospital at Montefiore - University Hospital of Albert Einstein College of Medicine
This device has the potential
to reduce the risk of trauma to implanted pacemakers.
Thoughtfully designed and innovative!
Zvi S. Marans. MD
Pediatric Cardiologist
Columbia University, NY
Over the years, we have received numerous testimonials from happy customers who are confidently wearing the PaceGuard to do the things they love, including competitive sports. Because we take our mission very seriously here at PaceGuard, we wanted more.
We wanted outside scientific proof to support our own rigorous testing - and now we have it. We conducted an independent study with the Sports Science Laboratory (SSL) at Washington State University* which confirmed our critical durability and force claims. As is the norm in engineering testing, PaceGuard was tested to failure to see how the materials behave under extreme loading conditions. Below are the results.
*The Sports Science Laboratory (SSL) at Washington State University specializes in the dynamics of bat and ball collisions. Their research helps regulating agencies better understand equipment performance through experimental testing and numeric models. The lab is certified with the ASA and the NCAA and contracts with bat and ball manufacturers to verify compliance and evaluate prototype products.
In the Fall of 2014, a dynamic impact test was selected to characterize the PaceGuard protector by projecting baseballs at various inbound speeds (30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 mph) at the PaceGuard while mounted to a steel rigid wall (an extreme condition). Other materials, such as rubber and foam, were inserted between the PaceGuard and the wall to better characterize the response of the PaceGuard (Note: the impact materials were not selected to be biofidelic or resemble any part of the human body.) The setup PaceGuard was mounted directly to the steel plate and was impacted at 60 mph two times.
On the second shot, the setup PaceGuard cracked. The second PaceGuard was mounted to the steel plate with a 1/2” thick piece of rubber between the guard and the plate. It was successfully impacted nine times at 30 mph and six times at 40 mph. It cracked on the seventh hit at 40 mph.
The third PaceGuard was mounted to the steel plate with a 1” thick foam. It was successfully impacted at four times at 30 mph, four times at 40 mph, four times at 50 mph, and once at 60 mph. It broke on the second impact at 60 mph. Using a fourth PaceGuard , it was impacted once at 70 mph and broke.
Results showed that the PaceGuard was an effective way of decreasing peak force from a ball impact. As inbound speed increased, the PaceGuard force dissipation percentage increased. In fact, the largest peak force reduction of 70% was observed at 60 mph when testing 1” foam. We were also pleased to see that the PaceGuard was capable of surviving over 12 shots at low speed (30-50 mph) because this is more typical of the speeds recreational players will face in game conditions.
Courtesy of the SSL, Washington State University
We didn't stop there.
A force plate study of the PaceGuard was conducted by the Athletic Training Department at Montclair State University in New Jersey. There was no compensation given to the university or the researchers for the work done. The study set out to prove whether or not the PaceGuard absorbs a significant amount of force and aimed to use as much force as a 70 mph baseball would create.
The results?
In a comparison of the averages it is clear that the PaceGuard does reduce force placed on the force plate - 79.763N difference.
According to the write-up in the Discussion section of the final report - “The data we analyzed reported that the PaceGuard does have the value to protect humans using this device.” Most of the customers who purchase the PaceGuard will never face the extreme conditions we had tested. However, they can now rest assured that the PaceGuard lives up to its expectation and performs as it was designed to do.
For complete test results, please contact Frank Armstrong at paceguard@gmail.com.