Скачать или смотреть Hockey concussions tracked using mouthguard sensors | UBC Applied Science research collaboration

A high-tech mouthguard worn by UBC Thunderbird hockey players is recording head impacts during games and practice, capturing data for UBC researchers who study concussions.

Full story: https://apsc.ubc.ca/news/2022/high-te...

The study is led by Dr. Lyndia Wu, an expert in brain injury biomechanics at UBC’s faculty of applied science. Prior to joining UBC, Dr. Wu helped develop a mouthguard with motion sensors in her PhD work at Stanford University. The mouthguard was later used to study concussions in U.S. college and youth football, and UBC varsity hockey players now wear an advanced version of this mouthguard during games and practice.

“We started a five-year collaborative study with the UBC Thunderbirds men’s and women’s hockey teams with two main research goals: to understand how the brain changes after a concussion in sports and how repeated impacts may lead to longer term brain changes,” says Dr. Wu.

She says the mouthguard is an ideal tool to study these head impacts as it sits closer to the skull than other types of sensors like helmet sensors.

The mouthguard is capable of capturing data such as the speed and direction of the impact and the strength of the blow.

The road to safer hockey

While the study has just started, the researchers are hopeful it will lead to better preventative measures such as helmets, improved diagnostic testing and more effective post-concussion treatment.

“Ultimately, we hope to learn how long it takes the brain to recover from a concussion and also give athletes information on where they should take a break after they’ve had a certain number of hits so they do not risk ending up with long-term negative effects,” says Dr. Rauscher.

This study highlights the value of collaboration across different disciplines, adds Dr. Wu. “Concussion research really needs researchers, players and coaches to work closely together and come up with solutions that will benefit future generations of athletes.”