Latest news with #LindsayStarling

South Wales Argus
2 days ago
- Sport
- South Wales Argus
Flashing LED mouthguards to be used in Women's Rugby World Cup 2025
It is the newest advancement in technology for smart mouthguards, which were first introduced in 2021, with the most recent addition having been trialled in Major League Rugby and at the U20 World Championships. The LED gumshields will flash red when a player experiences a head impact that passes a threshold determined by World Rugby. 'We are absolutely delighted to be introducing the LED into the mouthguard,' Dr Lindsay Starling, science and medical manager at World Rugby said. 'Previously, throughout 2024, most of the smart mouthguards you will have seen players wearing are white. 'Mouthguards players are wearing now are clear, and so on the side, you can see the LED board, the accelerometer and the gyroscope. 'When a player sustains an impact that results in an alert being triggered, not only is that alert being sent by Bluetooth to the match doctor on the side of the field, but the LED board on the side of the mouthguard flashes red. 'This will now be formally implemented as part of the HIA protocol in the Women's Rugby World Cup and at every tournament that makes use of smart mouthguards starting after the Women's Rugby World Cup. 'The reason for this is to create awareness; now everybody will be able to tell when a player has sustained a significant head impact during the match such that it has triggered an alert.' It's already been a summer to remember... England, are you ready for what comes next? 🏉#RWC2025 — Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) July 28, 2025 A head impact that results in 65Gs for women and 75Gs for men, which relates to the linear movement of the head, and 4500 radians per second for both men and women, which is the speed of rotation, triggers an alert. World Rugby are keen to stress the mouthguards do not detect concussion, with some knocks below the threshold for an alert leading to concussion, while some players who experience an impact that triggers an alert will pass a Head Injury Assessment. The women's game has led the way in terms of implementation around smart mouthguards and concussion protocols. The instrumented gumshields were first formally used at the 2022 World Cup, while WXV was the first tournament to implement new HIA protocols. With disparity between the professionalism of various unions' set-ups in the women's game, World Rugby's chief medical officer Professor Éanna Falvey hopes the new protocols can have a trickle-down effect. He said: 'Since I have been in this role, we have moved that everything we invest in the men's game, we invest in the women's game in the same way. 'That is not always particularly easy because for some of the work we do, we need competitions to have the HIA process in place, so something like the World Cup for us is a real banner event where we have a high level of teams. 'We have not just the best teams in the world, but we have teams from developing countries in the sport. This is great exposure where we hope that having played at level, that can trickle back into their own country and their union can work hard to get the HIA process in place for them.' With more than 330,000 tickets already sold, and prices starting at just £5 for children and £10 for adults, fans are encouraged to secure their tickets now via


South Wales Guardian
3 days ago
- Health
- South Wales Guardian
Flashing LED mouthguards to be used in Women's Rugby World Cup 2025
It is the newest advancement in technology for smart mouthguards, which were first introduced in 2021, with the most recent addition having been trialled in Major League Rugby and at the U20 World Championships. The LED gumshields will flash red when a player experiences a head impact that passes a threshold determined by World Rugby. 'We are absolutely delighted to be introducing the LED into the mouthguard,' Dr Lindsay Starling, science and medical manager at World Rugby said. 'Previously, throughout 2024, most of the smart mouthguards you will have seen players wearing are white. 'Mouthguards players are wearing now are clear, and so on the side, you can see the LED board, the accelerometer and the gyroscope. 'When a player sustains an impact that results in an alert being triggered, not only is that alert being sent by Bluetooth to the match doctor on the side of the field, but the LED board on the side of the mouthguard flashes red. 'This will now be formally implemented as part of the HIA protocol in the Women's Rugby World Cup and at every tournament that makes use of smart mouthguards starting after the Women's Rugby World Cup. 'The reason for this is to create awareness; now everybody will be able to tell when a player has sustained a significant head impact during the match such that it has triggered an alert.' It's already been a summer to remember... England, are you ready for what comes next? 🏉#RWC2025 A head impact that results in 65Gs for women and 75Gs for men, which relates to the linear movement of the head, and 4500 radians per second for both men and women, which is the speed of rotation, triggers an alert. World Rugby are keen to stress the mouthguards do not detect concussion, with some knocks below the threshold for an alert leading to concussion, while some players who experience an impact that triggers an alert will pass a Head Injury Assessment. The women's game has led the way in terms of implementation around smart mouthguards and concussion protocols. The instrumented gumshields were first formally used at the 2022 World Cup, while WXV was the first tournament to implement new HIA protocols. With disparity between the professionalism of various unions' set-ups in the women's game, World Rugby's chief medical officer Professor Éanna Falvey hopes the new protocols can have a trickle-down effect. He said: 'Since I have been in this role, we have moved that everything we invest in the men's game, we invest in the women's game in the same way. 'That is not always particularly easy because for some of the work we do, we need competitions to have the HIA process in place, so something like the World Cup for us is a real banner event where we have a high level of teams. 'We have not just the best teams in the world, but we have teams from developing countries in the sport. This is great exposure where we hope that having played at level, that can trickle back into their own country and their union can work hard to get the HIA process in place for them.' With more than 330,000 tickets already sold, and prices starting at just £5 for children and £10 for adults, fans are encouraged to secure their tickets now via


The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Health
- The Herald Scotland
Flashing LED mouthguards to be used in Women's Rugby World Cup 2025
The LED gumshields will flash red when a player experiences a head impact that passes a threshold determined by World Rugby. 'We are absolutely delighted to be introducing the LED into the mouthguard,' Dr Lindsay Starling, science and medical manager at World Rugby said. 'Previously, throughout 2024, most of the smart mouthguards you will have seen players wearing are white. 'Mouthguards players are wearing now are clear, and so on the side, you can see the LED board, the accelerometer and the gyroscope. 'When a player sustains an impact that results in an alert being triggered, not only is that alert being sent by Bluetooth to the match doctor on the side of the field, but the LED board on the side of the mouthguard flashes red. 'This will now be formally implemented as part of the HIA protocol in the Women's Rugby World Cup and at every tournament that makes use of smart mouthguards starting after the Women's Rugby World Cup. 'The reason for this is to create awareness; now everybody will be able to tell when a player has sustained a significant head impact during the match such that it has triggered an alert.' It's already been a summer to remember... England, are you ready for what comes next? 🏉#RWC2025 — Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) July 28, 2025 A head impact that results in 65Gs for women and 75Gs for men, which relates to the linear movement of the head, and 4500 radians per second for both men and women, which is the speed of rotation, triggers an alert. World Rugby are keen to stress the mouthguards do not detect concussion, with some knocks below the threshold for an alert leading to concussion, while some players who experience an impact that triggers an alert will pass a Head Injury Assessment. The women's game has led the way in terms of implementation around smart mouthguards and concussion protocols. The instrumented gumshields were first formally used at the 2022 World Cup, while WXV was the first tournament to implement new HIA protocols. With disparity between the professionalism of various unions' set-ups in the women's game, World Rugby's chief medical officer Professor Éanna Falvey hopes the new protocols can have a trickle-down effect. He said: 'Since I have been in this role, we have moved that everything we invest in the men's game, we invest in the women's game in the same way. 'That is not always particularly easy because for some of the work we do, we need competitions to have the HIA process in place, so something like the World Cup for us is a real banner event where we have a high level of teams. 'We have not just the best teams in the world, but we have teams from developing countries in the sport. This is great exposure where we hope that having played at level, that can trickle back into their own country and their union can work hard to get the HIA process in place for them.' With more than 330,000 tickets already sold, and prices starting at just £5 for children and £10 for adults, fans are encouraged to secure their tickets now via

Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
Red alert: Rugby to use mouthguards that flash after heavy impacts
Smart mouthguards that flash red to highlight significant head impacts will be used at the Women's World Cup later this month. The initiative from World Rugby is a progression of technology that was first brought to matches in 2021 and has been steadily developed since. LED mouthguards were trialled successfully in Major League Rugby and in the Under-20 World Championship this year, receiving the green light to be rolled out further. Referees will be asked to immediately stop the match upon seeing these clear mouthguards turn red as soon as a player experiences a certain level of force in a collision. An alert will still be sent to a match-day doctor via Bluetooth to warn of a possible concussion, but the hope is that another further visual cue enhances awareness. Typically, at the moment, a player will be brought off upon a natural break in play after their mouthguard has been triggered. It is hoped that the flashing LED will both save time and reduce doubt as to which collision caused the head impact. 'Everybody will be able to tell when a player has sustained a big head impact,' said Dr Lindsay Starling, the science and medical manager for World Rugby. 'It will create awareness in the stands and for fans at home, as well as for the players and officials. It should mean that there is absolutely no delay in a player being pulled off for a HIA [head injury assessment]. Ultimately, this just helps to tell the story.' The English Premiership and the United Rugby Championship will be among the competitions to follow the 2025 World Cup in showcasing the LED mouthguards, which have been developed by Prevent Biometrics and are installed with an accelerometer and a gyroscope to measure linear and rotational force. After years of gathering data, scientists have set the threshold for an alert at 75Gs (g-force) for men and 65Gs, or 4,500 radians (measuring how fast something is rotating) per second, for either gender. These are categorised as the 99th percentile of collisions.

The Age
3 days ago
- Health
- The Age
Red alert: Rugby to use mouthguards that flash after heavy impacts
Smart mouthguards that flash red to highlight significant head impacts will be used at the Women's World Cup later this month. The initiative from World Rugby is a progression of technology that was first brought to matches in 2021 and has been steadily developed since. LED mouthguards were trialled successfully in Major League Rugby and in the Under-20 World Championship this year, receiving the green light to be rolled out further. Referees will be asked to immediately stop the match upon seeing these clear mouthguards turn red as soon as a player experiences a certain level of force in a collision. An alert will still be sent to a match-day doctor via Bluetooth to warn of a possible concussion, but the hope is that another further visual cue enhances awareness. Typically, at the moment, a player will be brought off upon a natural break in play after their mouthguard has been triggered. It is hoped that the flashing LED will both save time and reduce doubt as to which collision caused the head impact. 'Everybody will be able to tell when a player has sustained a big head impact,' said Dr Lindsay Starling, the science and medical manager for World Rugby. 'It will create awareness in the stands and for fans at home, as well as for the players and officials. It should mean that there is absolutely no delay in a player being pulled off for a HIA [head injury assessment]. Ultimately, this just helps to tell the story.' The English Premiership and the United Rugby Championship will be among the competitions to follow the 2025 World Cup in showcasing the LED mouthguards, which have been developed by Prevent Biometrics and are installed with an accelerometer and a gyroscope to measure linear and rotational force. After years of gathering data, scientists have set the threshold for an alert at 75Gs (g-force) for men and 65Gs, or 4,500 radians (measuring how fast something is rotating) per second, for either gender. These are categorised as the 99th percentile of collisions.