BATON ROUGE — As intense heat continues to challenge student-athletes across the South, medical specialists and academic researchers in Louisiana are testing wearable technology designed to stop heat-related emergencies before they happen.

FMOL Health and Louisiana State University researchers have launched a yearlong collaborative study evaluating wearable devices that track athletes’ core body temperatures in real time. By pairing physiological data with on-field environmental metrics—including wet-bulb globe temperature, wind direction, and wind speed—researchers aim to build predictive algorithms capable of alerting coaches and trainers to pull athletes from the field before heat exhaustion turns into heat stroke.

The project is backed by a nearly $210,000 grant from the Our Lady of the Lake and LSU Championship Health Partnership’s Collaboration in Action Program. More than 100 high school athletes are slated to participate voluntarily with parental consent through the spring, starting with players from Prairieville High School in Ascension Parish Public Schools.

Heat illness ranks as the top preventable cause of death among U.S. high school athletes, according to Dr. Travis Currie, head team physician for Ascension Parish Public Schools and a sports medicine physician at Our Lady of the Lake St. Elizabeth.

The underlying technology, previously proven in testing with police and fire rescue teams, could eventually be deployed as a wearable armband across school athletic programs statewide. Researchers note that early, proactive intervention not only lowers emergency healthcare costs, but fundamentally protects student lives in extreme climates.