Contact-events and associated head acceleration events in semi-elite women’s rugby union: A competition-wide instrumented mouthguard study

Gregory Roe; Thomas Sawczuk; Lindsay Starling; Mark S. Gilthorpe; Danielle Salmon; Éanna Falvey; Sharief Hendricks; Karen Rasmussen; Keith Stokes; James Tooby; Cameron Owen; Ross Tucker; Ben Jones

doi:10.1080/02640414.2025.2481355

Contact-events and associated head acceleration events in semi-elite women’s rugby union: A competition-wide instrumented mouthguard study

Gregory Roe, Thomas Sawczuk, Lindsay Starling, Mark S. Gilthorpe, Danielle Salmon, Éanna Falvey, Sharief Hendricks, Karen Rasmussen, Keith Stokes, James Tooby, Cameron Owen, Ross Tucker, Ben Jones

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This study aimed to quantify contact-events and associated head acceleration event (HAE) probabilities in semi-elite women’s rugby union. Instrumented mouthguards (iMGs) were worn by players competing in the 2023 Farah Palmer Cup season (13 teams, 217 players) during 441 player-matches. Maximum peak linear acceleration (PLA) and peak angular acceleration (PAA) per-event were used as estimates of in vivo HAE (HAE_max), linked to video analysis-derived contact-events and analysed using mixed-effects regression. Back-rows had the highest number of contact-events per full-match (44.1 [41.2 to 47.1]). No differences were apparent between front-five and centres, or between half-backs and outside-backs. The probability of higher HAE_max occurring was greatest in ball-carries, followed by tackles, defensive rucks and attacking rucks. Probability profiles were similar between positions but the difference in contact-events for each position influenced HAE_max exposure. Overall, most HAE_max were relatively low. For example, the probability of a back-row experiencing a PLA HAE_max ≥25g was 0.045 (0.037–0.054) for ball carries (1 in every 22 carries), translating to 1 in every 2.3 full games. This study presents the first in-depth analysis of contact-events and associated HAE_max in semi-elite women’s rugby union. The HAE_max profiles during contact-events can help inform both policy and research into injury mitigation strategies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	933-942
Number of pages	10
Journal	Journal of Sports Sciences
Volume	43
Issue number	10
Early online date	25 Mar 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2025.2481355
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 25 Mar 2025

Data Availability Statement

Data is available from the corresponding author, GR, upon reasonable request.

Funding

This research was funded by World Rugby. GR role is part-funded by World Rugby. TS role is part-funded by Premiership Rugby. CO is part-funded by the Rugby Football League. LS, \u00C9F and DS are employed by World Rugby. KR is employed by the New Zealand Rugby Union. KS is employed by the Rugby Football Union. JT role is part-funded by the Rugby Football League, Premiership Rugby and World Rugby. RT is employed by World Rugby as a consultant. BJ is employed by Premiership Rugby and Rugby Football League as a consultant and has received funding from Prevent Biometrics and World Rugby.

Funders	Funder number
World Rugby
Prevent Biometrics and World Rugby

Keywords

athlete health
collision sport
concussion
Injury prevention
instrumented mouthguards
monitoring

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

Access to Document

10.1080/02640414.2025.2481355Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

Roe, G., Sawczuk, T., Starling, L., Gilthorpe, M. S., Salmon, D., Falvey, É., Hendricks, S., Rasmussen, K., Stokes, K., Tooby, J., Owen, C., Tucker, R., & Jones, B. (2025). Contact-events and associated head acceleration events in semi-elite women’s rugby union: A competition-wide instrumented mouthguard study. Journal of Sports Sciences, 43(10), 933-942. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2025.2481355

Roe, G, Sawczuk, T, Starling, L, Gilthorpe, MS, Salmon, D, Falvey, É, Hendricks, S, Rasmussen, K, Stokes, K, Tooby, J, Owen, C, Tucker, R & Jones, B 2025, 'Contact-events and associated head acceleration events in semi-elite women’s rugby union: A competition-wide instrumented mouthguard study', Journal of Sports Sciences, vol. 43, no. 10, pp. 933-942. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2025.2481355

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abstract = "This study aimed to quantify contact-events and associated head acceleration event (HAE) probabilities in semi-elite women{\textquoteright}s rugby union. Instrumented mouthguards (iMGs) were worn by players competing in the 2023 Farah Palmer Cup season (13 teams, 217 players) during 441 player-matches. Maximum peak linear acceleration (PLA) and peak angular acceleration (PAA) per-event were used as estimates of in vivo HAE (HAEmax), linked to video analysis-derived contact-events and analysed using mixed-effects regression. Back-rows had the highest number of contact-events per full-match (44.1 [41.2 to 47.1]). No differences were apparent between front-five and centres, or between half-backs and outside-backs. The probability of higher HAEmax occurring was greatest in ball-carries, followed by tackles, defensive rucks and attacking rucks. Probability profiles were similar between positions but the difference in contact-events for each position influenced HAEmax exposure. Overall, most HAEmax were relatively low. For example, the probability of a back-row experiencing a PLA HAEmax ≥25g was 0.045 (0.037–0.054) for ball carries (1 in every 22 carries), translating to 1 in every 2.3 full games. This study presents the first in-depth analysis of contact-events and associated HAEmax in semi-elite women{\textquoteright}s rugby union. The HAEmax profiles during contact-events can help inform both policy and research into injury mitigation strategies.",

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AU - Rasmussen, Karen

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Contact-events and associated head acceleration events in semi-elite women’s rugby union: A competition-wide instrumented mouthguard study

Abstract

Data Availability Statement

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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