Mouthguards collect data in study of soccer players heading ball

LONDON — Mouthguards are usually used as protective kits in sports such as rugby and boxing, but in soccer a similar custom-made device is being used to collect data on the frequency and intensity of impacts a player receives to their head.

English football expanded its study into the risks of heading the ball on Tuesday with the instrumented PROTECHT mouthguard, developed by Sports & Wellbeing Analytics (SWA), being worn by players in training until the end of the season.

Twelve clubs across the Premier League, English Football League (EFL) and FA Women's Super League (WSL) are participating in the extended study, which follows last season's initial research project with Liverpool and Manchester City.

Ahead of the current campaign, the Football Association (FA), Premier League and other bodies announced guidelines limiting “high-impact” headers to 10 per week in training after a number of footballers, including several members of England's 1966 World Cup winning team, were diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease.

“What you're picking up then is every dimension of the head as it moves when it makes contact with a football,” Chris Turner, CEO of SWA told Reuters. “We're able to understand what forces are being applied to the head, how often they're getting applied, how different that is across different types of headers and different types of people.”

Turner said the technology could help soccer with its approach to concussions after collisions on the pitch. The Premier League last year introduced a concussion protocol where team doctors have as much time as required to make an assessment of a player. If the player shows clear symptoms, he will be substituted.

“What this does is it provides the data to enable a medic to make a much more informed decision. That's important,” Turner said.