The high-tech help behind Buckeye performance gains

Buckeye student-athletes don’t just train, prepare and execute on the field; they also take recovery seriously.

Case in point: the Ammortal Chamber, a $160,000 machine that looks more like something out of “Star Trek” than what you’d expect in a university athletics facility. Users lie on a bed that allows for a comfortable bend of the lower back, hips and knees while the machine operates with light, sound and vibration. 

A 30-minute session can include several noninvasive recovery techniques: red and near-infrared light, pulsed electromagnetic therapy, full-body vibro-acoustics, molecular hydrogen and guided meditation.

Housed in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, the Ammortal Chamber tends to make a quick impression on student-athletes, says Josh Hagen, faculty director of the Human Performance Collaborative and a professor of integrated systems engineering. 

“You look at it like, ‘Wow, what is this thing?’” he says. “And now it’s one of the most popular options we have.”

The Ammortal Chamber and cutting-edge sports science are giving Buckeye athletes a leg up thanks to Ohio State’s Performance Innovation Teams (PITs).

These teams were created in 2022 to test which of the technologies and tools exploding across the sports science field are truly effective. The PITs include university faculty, grad students and performance staff in Athletics.

For the women’s ice hockey team, wearables that track heart rate, performance, body temperature and sleep are generating the data needed to tailor training and recovery for each individual athlete, says Kevin Lennon, the team’s athletic trainer.

“We know if you’re tired, we know if you still have more in the tank, and we can bring that together and provide not only the student-athlete with that information but the support staff and the coaching staff as well,” he says.