Technologies to achieve healthier contact sport participation
PI: Jeroen Bergmann
Department: Engineering Science
Sport activities play an essential role in keeping the population healthy. Interestingly, some of the biggest and fastest growing sports globally are contact sports. These sports create significant economic outputs, with the Rugby World Cup 2015 producing £2.3 billion from a single event and American Football being the highest revenue generating professional sports league in the world.
However, there is a great need to ensure that the contact sport community can safely participate in physical activity. It is well known that the impact endured in contact sports can lead to traumatic brain injury (TBI). Long-term disorders have been identified for severe, moderate and even mild TBI, greatly affecting the daily life of many athletes.
The objective of this project is develop novel technologies that facilitate behavioural changes to achieve healthier sports participation. A smart mouthguard will be developed to improve injury prevention through continuous monitoring of breathing for quantification of fatigue and physiological impact.