Objective We hypothesise that a headguard will attenuate accelerations and mTBI indicators sustained by a rugby player if their head impacts the ground.

Design Professional rugby videos were analysed to identify generic tackles (Figure 1). These were reconstructed, with and without an energy absorbing foam headguard. Friction coefficients of 0.5 and 0.3 were used at the ground-head and head-helmet interfaces.

Setting Three-dimensional computational modelling with the UCD Brain Trauma Model were used for accident reconstruction purposes.

Participants This idealised dataset represents real-world head impact conditions that occur during competitive rugby.

Outcome Measures Linear and angular accelerations, and stress/strain within the brain were quantified while wearing and not wearing a headguard for all five types of head-ground impacts (Figure 2).

Main Results In all cases, the level of acceleration reduced when the headguard was worn. The reduction varied between 10–50%, with Case C, namely a direct frontal ground impact scenario corresponding to the greatest level of protection. Von Mises stress and maximum principal strain for this case were also reduced by almost 50%.

Conclusions This set of 5 simulations confirm that a headguard can indeed provide a clear and quantifiable level of clinical protection against mTBI if worn while playing a contact sport such as rugby. Depending on the particular ground impact situation sustained by a person, the level of attenuation that will be associated with wearing a headguard may be as much as a 50% less than what would be sustained if a headguard is not worn.