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ARTICLE · 22 FEBRUARY 2024

6 Nations 'Smart' Mouthguards - The Next Step For Better Head Injury Assessments?

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In a first for rugby, the second round of this years' 6 Nations saw a player removed from the field for a head injury assessment (HIA) after an alert triggered by a ‘smart' mouthgaurd.

United KingdomLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration

In a first for rugby, the second round of this years' 6 Nations saw a player removed from the field for a head injury assessment (HIA) after an alert triggered by a 'smart' mouthgaurd.

In the opening 20 minutes at Murrayfield, Scotland's George Turner was removed from the pitch for a HIA after an alert triggered by his mouthguard alerted medical staff of a significant head acceleration event; brought about by a tackle made on France's Charles Ollivon. Fortunately, the front rower passed his assessment and returned to the field for the remainder of the game.

World Rugby introduced the new technology ahead of this year's tournament as part of their HIA protocols, which sends alerts of high forces to the independent match day doctor; with the recommendations that male players be taken off for HIA for collisions above a force of 70G and 4,000 radians per second squared, with a threshold 55G for female players. (To put a collision of 70+G into context, ex-F1 driver

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