AHCJ – Association of Health Care Journalists

02/08/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 02/08/2024 20:16

Can smart mouthguards help detect concussions

Image by Patrick Case via Pixabay

There's been plenty of news about the dangers of concussions from professional and recreational sports like football, boxing, and rugby in both children and adults. Earlier this year, World Rugby became the first sports organization to include smart mouthguards - outfitted with sensors to measure collision impacts - in its head injury assessment protocol. Elite players are now required to wear the devices during training and matches.

Journalists can find interesting stories by following what happens with devices like this in rugby and other sports such as football; the National Football League has been using mouthguards in research studies.

How smart mouthguards work

Players wear a mouthguard outfitted with sensors that detect and measure the severity of collisions, then send that information wirelessly to an iPad or other device used by a sideline physician, according to a recent article in the Washington Post. When a player has a collision that reaches a designated threshold, the screen turns red and the player's number and team are identified in an alert, which triggers the doctor to pull the player off the field and conduct an assessment. There are several manufacturers of these devices.

The mouthguards contain several microchips and sensors. One featured in an article in Rugby World has a proximity sensor that ensures data is recorded only when it's in a player's mouth and an aerial sensor that transmits readings in real time to staff on the sidelines. It also contains a triaxial gyroscope to measure the change in rotation velocity, a magnetometer to measure the orientation and direction of impact, and an accelerometer to measure the acceleration forces from an impact in a specific direction.

A rugby player for Scotland was the first to be pulled off the field from a smart mouthguard alert, occurring 17 minutes into a February 2024 Six Nations match against France, Rugby World and other news agencies reported. He was later cleared to return to the game.

Other organizations testing the devices

The National Football League began using mouthguards containing sensors for research in 2019 and has partnered with eight colleges and universities for a research study to gather data on over 300 players. Colleges in the program are the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, the University of Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, the University of Alabama, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin. Each participating program will receive a statistical analysis of player impacts specific to their team, according to an NFL press release.

The mouthguards are also being tested in settings outside sports, according to the Post. For example, the Department of Defense has used these devices since 2017 to monitor blunt forces from parachute landing falls, combat training and other military activities. When executed correctly, a parachutist lands feet first and falls sideways, distributing the shock of landing along the calves, thighs, hips and back, MIT Technology Review reported. However, in case of error, which can occur in 5% of jumps, the article said, their head could be whipped backward and onto the ground.

For now, the technology is best left to professionals and research, not children playing youth sports, Kristy Arbogast, Ph.D., scientific director of the Minds Matter Concussion Program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told the Post. She expressed concern that if an impact occurs but doesn't register above a certain number, people might wrongly assume a child is fine.

Potential story angles

  • Interview physicians or football players from colleges participating in the NFL study to see how it's going and what they are learning.
  • Contact World Rugby officials and team members to find what they are learning about this technology. A report in Australia's Sydney Morning Herald discussed how some players found the devices too chunky, leaving them struggling to breathe.
  • Talk to companies manufacturing these technologies to see how they are being developed and tested, and what improvements are on the horizon.
  • Look into other technologies to detect concussions. Smart mouthguards are being developed for additional sports such as boxing and lacrosse. Some organizations have tested smart helmets.
  • Interview concussion experts about the potential accuracy of mouthguards like this.
  • Pursue a military angle by investigating what the Department of Defense is learning from its studies.

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