Written by James Cooney, Daily Mail Australia
01:02 February 19, 2024, updated 01:07 February 19, 2024
- ‘Smart’ mouthguard helps detect possible concussion
- New technology is used in the Six Nations
- Head injuries are a hot topic in the sports world.
During a recent match in the Six Nations tournament, Scotland’s George Turner made history when he was sent off the pitch after his smart mouthguard detected a dangerous collision.
In an effort to combat rising concussion rates, World Rugby has collaborated with Prevent Biometrics on a ‘smart’ mouthguard that it hopes will help reduce concussions in the sport.
At first glance, the mouthguard looks like any other mouthguard, but it actually has some clever technology built into it.
Sensors inside the mouthguard measure head impact, acceleration, and deceleration.
Current regulations state that for male players, a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) is recommended if the impact exceeds 70g and 4,000 radians per square.
Drew Goodger, vice president of customer success at Prevent Biometrics, told MailOnline in 2022: “From a structural standpoint, the mouthguard is no different than a typical off-the-shelf mouthguard. yeah.”
“From a technology perspective, what they have are accelerometers and gyroscopes, which basically measure head movement in both contact and non-contact scenarios.
“There are also smaller components like a battery and a Bluetooth transmitter that can capture that information and project it to an iOS app in real time.”
The Six Nations tournament is the highest profile tournament in which the new technology has been used, and it is thought that wider adoption of mouthguards could be possible.
World Rugby’s scientific and medical manager Lindsay Stirling said the mouthguards had “really changed the game”.
“Repeated head impacts over an athlete’s lifetime can contribute to long-term brain health, so we do everything we can to protect an athlete’s brain health from all head impact events, not just concussions. “We should do that,” he said. He said.
“This allows us to quantify the frequency and magnitude of head impacts, which means we can respond to larger impacts, better manage impact exposure throughout the career, and ultimately It can be alleviated.”
There is growing concern about the brain health of athletes in contact sports because of the effects that repeated trauma to the head has on the brain.
Last year, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), which governs rugby union in England, announced some of the most dramatic changes to the game in recent memory.
From July 1, amateur players of all ages must tackle opponents below the waist in order to reduce the number of serious head injuries.
Chest tackles are illegal in men’s rugby at national level 1 and below, and in women’s rugby at championship level 1 and below, but Australia has not followed suit.
Meanwhile, the number of former rugby union players taking part in legal action against rugby authorities continues to grow.
England’s 2003 World Cup winners Phil Vickery and Mark Mark were among the 207 new names revealed at the Concussion Rugby Proceedings hearing at London’s High Court in early December. Regan and former Wales national team center Gavin Henson were attracting attention.
They joined the likes of Alix Popham, Karl Heyman, Steve Thompson and Michael Lipman in World Rugby, Rugby Football after suffering from neurological problems such as early-onset dementia, motor neuron disease and possibly chronic traumatic illness. The union has brought legal action against the Welsh Rugby Union. They claim that the encephalopathy is a result of his playing career.
Players say they were not informed that rugby would cause such problems.
In total, approximately 320 former professional, semi-professional, and amateur rugby union players and 160 rugby league personnel are currently involved in the lawsuit.