Wired UK - 11.2019

(Darren Dugan) #1
PHOTOGRAPHY: SAM RILEY

045 START

How a mouthguard helps doctors monitor
the impact of concussions on rugby players

Heading off

brain injury

D

an Lydiate has been lucky.
“I’ve only probably had three
or four concussions,” says the
rugby union star (right), who
plays as a flanker for Welsh
team Ospreys, and for Wales.
“But at the time, you just think
it’s a bump to the head.”
Concussions have become
a growing issue in contact
sports since 2006, when
autopsies of former US NFL
players found signs of chronic
traumatic encephalopathy,
a degenerative brain condition
that also afflicts some former
boxers, footballers and rugby
players, inducing symptoms
similar to Alzheimer’s disease.
Returning to play too quickly
after a blow to the head can
also exacerbate both the
short-term symptoms and
the long-term consequences;
but pitch-side doctors rely on
honesty from players who just
want to get back on the field.
A new product being trialled
this season by Lydiate and the
Ospreys team will give doctors
a more objective tool: OPRO+
builds impact sensors into the
gumshields worn by players.
This puts the sensors closer
to the centre of the skull – and
because they’re moulded to an
individual, they paint a more
accurate picture of an impact.
“The mouthguard won’t move

Right: Welsh rugby
international Dan Lydiate
and his real-time impact-
monitoring mouthguard

independently of the head,” says
Anthony Lovat, a former dentist
who founded OPRO in 1998.
As well as sensors that can
track linear and rotational
acceleration, each mouthguard
includes an FM radio transmitter
to beam a signal to a pitch-side
receiver in real time. Tracking
collisions over time also enables
coaches to build a “passport”
of historical head impact data,
which could help players enjoy
safer, longer careers. “It can
only be a positive,” says Lydiate.
Amit Katwala opro.com

11-19-STRugby.indd 45 12/09/2019 19:36

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