Instrumented mouthguards in elite-level men’s and women’s rugby union: characterising tackle-based head acceleration events

Objectives To examine the propensity of tackle height and the number of tacklers that result in head acceleration events (HAEs) in elite-level male and female rugby tackles.Methods Instrumented mouthguard data were collected from women (n=67) and men (n=72) elite-level rugby players from five elite and three international teams. Peak linear acceleration and peak angular acceleration were extracted from HAEs. Propensities for HAEs at a range of thresholds were calculated as the proportion of tackles/carries that resulted in an HAE exceeding a given magnitude for coded tackle height (low, medium, high) and number of tacklers. Propensity ratios with 952.7 (95.89 to 155.02) and 41.2 (95.22 to 184.58) propensity ratio to cause ball carrier HAEsgt;30 g compared with medium tackles for men and women, respectively. Low tackles had a 2.6 (95.91 to 3.42) and 5.3 (95.28 to 8.53) propensity ratio to cause tackler HAEsgt;30 g compared with medium tackles for men and women, respectively. In men, multiple tacklers had a higher propensity ratio (6.1; 95.71 to 9.93) than singular tacklers to cause ball carrier HAEsgt;30 g but a lower propensity ratio (0.4; 95.29 to 0.56) to cause tackler HAEsgt;30 g. No significant differences were observed in female tacklers or carriers for singular or multiple tacklers.Conclusion To limit HAE exposure, rule changes and coaching interventions that promote tacklers aiming for the torso (medium tackle) could be explored, along with changes to multiple tackler events in the male game.Data are available upon reasonable request. Anonymous data are available at a reasonable request to the corresponding author.