How will the NFL use mouthguard sensors to measure head impact?
With an announcement that eight research universities will cooperate in studying head injuries in the NFL, we take a look at the unique methods they will use
The National Football League has expanded its partnership with top research universities to study head impacts to eight institutions.
The Brain Trust
- The University of Alabama
- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- The University of Washington
- University of Wisconsin
- The University of Florida
- The University of Georgia
- The University of Pittsburgh
- Vanderbilt University
The @NFL partners with the University of Florida 🤝
— Florida Gators (@FloridaGators) November 10, 2022
UF will assist in data collection of the Novel Mouthguard Sensors to measure on field head impact. Also to improve the health and safety of football players at all levels.https://t.co/EKOKlGjCHk
The eight universities will be investigating the impact of on-field head injuries in the NFL with an ultimate goal of reducing injuries in the game. Various elements are being considered, including rule changes at both the professional and collegiate level, which could include the development of position-specific helmets.
Football players at all eight research universities are offered the opportunity to voluntarily opt-in to the study. Those who do will be fitted with mouthguards instrumented with sensors that can provide a substantial amount of data about what the human head experiences during an on-field impact.
The aim of the study is to understand and reduce concussions in football, and head impacts more generally. Originally commissioned in 2021 with only four universities taking part, today’s expansion of the program to eight will substantially increase the amount of data collected, which is the life-blood of any research.
In a study of 111 brains of NFL players, 110 had CTE, the degenerative disease caused by repeated blows to the head https://t.co/fbNS53VRMe pic.twitter.com/pG3fPF11ct
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 25, 2017
The unique mouthguards
In order to carry out the research, it will be necessary to custom-fit mouthguards for the players which can gather information about the frequency and severity of impacts in both games and practices. Identical data will be collected at four NFL clubs.
Align Technology, designers of the Invisalign system and iTero intraoral scanners, have partnered with the NFL to create these mouthguards.
Dr. James Clugston, Team Physician at University of Florida, says, “We are excited about the opportunity to partner with the NFL to assist them in collecting more data to better understand on-field head impacts. The research will continue to help make the game of football safer and will guide us to develop best practices for equipment design, rules of competition and practice drills.”
No one seems happy about how the NFL's concussion protocols have been handled.
— harrison helms (@harrisonhelms2) November 9, 2022
Ben Volin: The NFL’s concussion protocols have changed and the Tua Tagovailoa case is resolved, but no one seems happy with it - The Boston Globe
The NFL, the union, teams, and players have gripes a... pic.twitter.com/HvGzIuHbSN
Ron Courson, Executive Associate Athletic Director, Sports Medicine, at the University of Georgia concurs. “It is a privilege to partner with the NFL on the biosensor mouthguard study. This novel study will provide new and important information on concussions in sport as we continue to work together to make the game of football safer for players in all settings.”
Dr. Douglas Terry, Neuropsychologist and Co-Director, Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center continues the theme. “Having athletes wear mouthguards with sensors embedded into them will help us understand the specifics of head impacts and the force that may be transmitted to the brain. We’ll be able to examine what players/positions get the most hits, the amount of force sustained, the direction of that force, and the types of plays that lead to these impacts.”
The mouthguard sensor program launched in 2019 as part of the NFL’s $60 million commitment to promote health and safety initiatives.