Since the Digital Athlete team portal launched in 2023, practice-related lower-extremity strains have dropped roughly 14 percent leaguewide, according to NFL data. The same technology simulated 10,000 virtual seasons to help design the league’s new kickoff, which reduced injuries even as returns increased to their highest rate in years, the league said.

Across many contexts, studies have shown that kids appear to learn better when they’re asked to produce letters or other visual items using their fingers and hands in a coordinated way—one that can’t be replicated by clicking a mouse or tapping buttons on a screen or keyboard. Vinci-Booher’s research has also found that the action of handwriting appears to engage different brain regions at different levels than other standard learning experiences, such as reading or observing.