Smart Mouthguards Tackle Rugby's Head Injury Crisis
Rugby has never been a sport for the meek. And as players have grown stronger and trained harder over the years, the hits have gotten bigger — with injury worries increasing at all levels of competition.
More and more players have been suffering brain injuries as a result of hundreds of bangs to the head. And while the effects can be immediate, symptoms may also take years to emerge, and many former players have been taking legal action against rugby authorities for failing to protect them.
In the US, American football has already been reckoning with a brain injury crisis, as players and scientists have realized the extent of the damage repeated bangs to the head have been causing.
Rugby is now catching up.
Rugby clubs have already had to reduce the amount of full contact practice they do in training, and now World Rugby has introduced "smart mouthguards" to help identify players who've received the biggest hits.
The mouthguards have micro-sensors that measure force and acceleration inside the head when a player is tackled.
The sensors also record the number of times a player has been hit, and the data is sent to medical staff at the side of the pitch. The doctors can then decide if the player needs to leave the pitch for a head injury assessment.
The mouthguards have been used in some of the top leagues across the world, as well as in the Six Nations tournament played across Europe in February and March this year.
However, not everyone is happy with the new technology. Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend complained the sport was putting trust in technology "that's not been proven" after two of his players were removed from the pitch during the first three weekends of the Six Nations.
But Lindsay Starling from World Rugby said that while more testing of the mouthguards is still needed, she is confident in the technology and in the data.
She added: "I think everyone does understand why this is being done, and that is purely for the welfare of players."
A rugby player removing his mouthguard.
