Professional basketball teams are turning to a bioanalytics company that uses blood analysis to make personalized recommendations for athletes' workloads and diets, according to The New York Times.
The NBA's Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks have hired the Irish company, Orreco, to customize remedies to fight athlete fatigue and identify increased risk for injury and illness using data from players' blood and feeding it into machine-learning programs.
Orreco staff come to Dallas to administer a full venous blood draw on Mavericks players four times a season. The team mixes in frequent capillary blood draws for its players to supplement those visits, in which they take a quick pinprick sample to provide nearly immediate readings of oxidative stress levels in the blood from a player's ear or index finger.
The samples, according to Orreco co-founder Brian Moore, PhD, let the company analyze a player's hematology and biochemistry by evaluating almost 50 biomarkers. This includes an examination of creatine kinase to assess muscle damage as well as hydration and nutrition indicators.
Orreco's algorithms also consider game minutes, air miles traveled, sleep data and reaction times obtained from wearable devices used during practices.
Casey Smith, head of Dallas's athletic training staff, said the collaboration with Orreco has improved the Mavericks' ability to track the onset of illness and keep players "more available" for games.
"Does that mean we win more games?" Mr. Smith said. "Not necessarily. But it gives us a better shot."