What are connected mouthguards, now essential in the Tournament, used for?

Players at the Six Nations Tournament must now wear a connected mouthguard on the pitch to collect data on shocks and impacts.

It is a small technological tool which now accompanies players on the pitch. Since the start of the year, World Rugby has made it compulsory to wear connected mouthguards during matches. The object should help to better identify and understand head impacts, and their consequences on the body, to better protect the health of players.

The connected mouthguard features an accelerometer and gyroscope to record data. “These mouthguards record two things about impacts: linear accelerations, as well as rotational accelerations. These are accelerations of movements. For example, when the head takes a blow, there is also a rotational force”, deciphers Romain Loursac, former doctor of the French women’s XV, now in Lyon. In its LOU club, each mouthguard comes with a box connected to a box to download the data, and a UV treatment to disinfect.

Identify possible concussions

“We have a modeled head, an impact arrow which indicates at what level the shock took place, and the intensities”, continues the doctor. The technology works hand in hand with video analysis to find the actions corresponding to the data collected.

The technology helps identify significant impacts, and therefore possible concussions. “The mouthguard will allow the independent medical team to be alerted during the match. If a player experiences an acceleration to the head, they will receive an alert to inform the team medical staff and referees that the player must leave the field to take an HIA1 exam”it is written on the competition website.

This head trauma assessment protocol, in place for several years, provides for an assessment during the match for players who have suffered significant impacts and are suspected of concussion. Since the start of the year, it has taken into account the alerts sent by the connected mouthguard.

“These are potentially big impacts that would have gone unnoticed. We can now question ourselves and look.”

Romain Loursac, LOU doctor

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Mouthguards must also be used to collect data for the future, particularly by being used on a daily basis in training. “This makes it possible to record the number and intensity of impacts over an entire season, in training and in matches”, explains the LOU doctor. This data must be used to better understand the shocks, impacts and their effects on players. “We are really in a collection phase. We are conducting a study on the tackling technique: if it is good or bad, does it have an impact on the intensity felt in the brain?”continues Romain Loursac.

It is therefore another tool in the attention paid to head impacts and the risk of concussion. “We realize that the more we advance, the more significant the shocks are. We also see that at the level of the cells of g [unité de mesure de l’accélération de la pesanteur à la surface de la Terre], it goes very high. When it comes to player safety, today there is no longer any privilege.”ensures the third French line Emeline Gros. “For our safety, it’s always better to have this because sometimes we can’t identify certain small blows, it can help us”abounds the n°10 of the XV of France, Lina Tuy.

“It’s a little difficult to get used to”

But the object is still in its infancy, particularly in terms of comfort. At the start of their Tournament, in February, the players of the French XV complained about the feeling of the obligatory mouthguard in their mouth. “It’s a little complicated. It’s a little difficult to get used to. They’re a little bigger, there’s the flea which is a little big in the mouth. But you have to get used to it…”recognized second row Romain Taofifenua.

For the French players, who began testing the object at the 2022 World Cup, the discomfort is over. “We were able to get used to it, we were able to re-mold them. There was a little adaptation time though, because there is one side where it’s bigger. But for me, it doesn’t bother me no more than that”assures pillar Clara Joyeux.

“The quality of the mouthguard is not yet optimal, compared to some made by dentists. There is the fact that many mouthguards do not yet charge correctly. We are at the beginning of the technology, it is implements”, summarizes Romain Loursac. Exited on concussion protocol during the match in Scotland on March 30, French center Gabrielle Vernier explained a few days later that her mouthguard had not raised the alarm.

It will also take a little time to put the data collected into perspective, according to Romain Loursac: “We discover, we are not able to know if 700, 800, 1000, 1500 impacts of more than 5 g over an entire season is a lot (…) It’s like GPS: the first time we gave them to players, we didn’t know if running 15 kilometers at a certain pace was good or not.”