World Rugby is introducing game-changing ‘smart’ mouthguards in the sport’s battle with concussion

During a recent match in the Six Nations tournament, Scotland’s George Turner made history after being removed from the field because his clever mouthguard detected a dangerous collision.

In an effort to combat rising concussion rates, World Rugby has teamed up with Prevent Biometrics on a “smart” mouthguard which it hopes will help reduce concussions in sport.

At first glance, the mouthguard looks like any other, but it actually has smart technology built into it.

Sensors in the mouthguard measure head impacts and accelerations and decelerations.

Current regulations state that for male players, an impact greater than 70g and 4000 radians per second squared will recommend a Head Injury Assessment (HIA).

Speaking to MailOnline in 2022, Drew Goodger, vice president of customer success at Prevent Biometrics, explained: ‘Mouthguards, from a structural point of view, are really no different from the typical mouthguard available on the market.

‘What they do have, from a technological point of view, is an accelerometer and a gyroscope, which essentially measure head movement, both in contact and non-contact scenarios.

“You also have small components like batteries and Bluetooth transmitters that can capture that information and project it in real time into an iOS app.”

The Six Nations tournament is the highest-profile competition in which the new technology has been used, and a wider rollout of the mouthguards is seen as likely.

World Rugby chief medical and scientific officer Lindsay Starling said mouthguards “have really changed the game”.

“There is a possibility that repeated impacts to the head throughout a player’s life will contribute to long-term brain health, so we should do everything possible to care for players’ brain health in all events.” impact to the head, not just concussions,” he said. saying.

“This allows us to quantify the frequency and magnitude of head impacts, which means we can respond to large impacts and, over the course of your career, better manage your exposure to them and ultimately reduce them.”

There is growing concern about the brain health of athletes in contact sports, due to the impact that repeated head trauma can have on the brain.

Face masks measure impacts to the head and alert medical personnel

Head injuries have become a big issue in sports in recent years.

Last year, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), which governs rugby in England, announced the most drastic change to the game in recent memory.

Starting July 1, amateur players of all ages must tackle an opposing player at or below the waist in an attempt to reduce the number of serious head injuries.

Chest tackles will be illegal at National One and below in men’s rugby and Championship One and below in women’s rugby, but Australia will not follow suit.

Meanwhile, the number of former rugby players joining legal action against the sport’s authorities continues to grow.

In early December, England’s 2003 world champions Phil Vickery and Mark Regan and former Wales center Gavin Henson were prominent figures among the 207 new names revealed at the rugby procedural hearing at the High Court From london.

They joined the likes of Alix Popham, Carl Hayman, Steve Thompson and Michael Lipman in bringing legal action against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union after suffering neurological problems such as early-onset dementia, motor neurone disease and probable chronic trauma. encephalopathy which they claim is a result of their playing careers.

The players say they were not told rugby would cause such problems.

In total, there are now approximately 320 former professional, semi-professional and amateur rugby union and 160 rugby league players involved in the legal action.