Born from cerebral palsy research out of biomedical engineer Silvia Blemker’s lab at the University of Virginia, Springbok Analytics uses artificial intelligence to convert 2D MRI scans into 3D digital twins for muscle analysis. Its mission remains threefold — human performance, healthy aging and life sciences — with the sporting domain growing rapidly. Springbok graduated from the NBA Launchpad program in 2023 and continued its grant-backed research into hamstring injuries on behalf of the NFL Scientific Advisory Board. What began as a lower-body product has evolved into a full-body scan as the company has built a roster of team partners across the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Premier League and NCAA.
The results of a scan enable practitioners to compare a subject to themself — detecting left/right asymmetries that could signal injury risk — as well as to a larger population. Springbok is building what might be the most comprehensive database of healthy musculature. Anyone scanned can receive an analysis with a proprietary Springbok Score that compares the data to others of similar sex, size and sport.
Springbok Analytics
MISSION: To drive better health and performance outcomes through proprietary 3D muscle visualization technology that has direct applications across broad life sciences and human performance segments.
FOUNDED: 2013
HQ: Charlottesville, Va.
EMPLOYEES: 29
KEY EXECUTIVES: Scott Magargee, CEO/co-founder; Silvia Blemker, chief science officer/co-founder; Xue Feng, CTO; Savannah Benusa, COO; Matt Brown, director of business development
KEY PARTNERS: NFL, NBA, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Blue Jays, University of Wisconsin Athletics, Henry Ford Health, Longhorn Imaging, The Kollective, GE HealthCare, FSHD Global Research Foundation and Friends of FSH Research
“We started with healthy controls, developing a database of what would you expect all muscles to look like in healthy people,” Blemker said. “Until then, nobody really knew that. It was all based on cadavers, which aren’t healthy people, obviously.”
Even among the living, scans are typically only done on the injured. Imaging rarely continues as athletes return to play, a time when they might overcompensate. In a prime example, one NFL player had outwardly recovered from a severe hamstring injury, but the Springbok scan found evidence that two of the three muscles in the hamstring muscle group had strengthened to offset the other’s damage — knowing this injury risk helps the performance staff prescribe targeted exercises to counterbalance the area of concern.
