Rugby Football League approves impact detection mouth guards

By Aaron Banse

According to The Guardian, the Rugby Football League (RFL) has approved the use of mouthguards that could detect whether a player is at risk for a concussion. The mouthguards were trialed by the Leeds Rhinos, an English Rugby team, and will be deployed next season. The guards can measure the force of collisions experienced by players.

It appears the mouthguard data will be collected primarily for research purposes and not for making a judgment as to whether a given individual needs a concussion assessment, at least at this time. However, another article mentions that for the Leeds Rhinos, “it is hoped the new technology will provide concrete, factual data that makes it clearer when a player falls into risk of trauma to the head.”   

The study affiliated with the RFL initiative concerns “quantifying head acceleration exposure via instrumented mouthguards (iMG),” led by Professor Ben Jones in collaboration with Leeds Beckett University and Prevent Biometrics. According to Jones, “The guards measure head acceleration profile and track impact to the head and rotational force.”

While the mouthguards were initially going to be rolled out across the Super League, England’s premier rugby league, the RFL has allowed them to be available to all levels of the sport, for men and women. Every Super League club has supported this decision, and Professor Jones hopes that other sports organizations will follow their lead. The iMG study was published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine.