Vanderbilt researchers, Commodores partner with NFL to study head-impact effects

Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Commodores football team are using novel mouthguard sensors to monitor how head impacts affect players as part of a study in partnership with other research institutions and the NFL.

Researchers hope to collect data from players wearing the mouthguards that will eventually be used to design safer equipment, including helmets for college and professional players. The study is part of a $60 million NFL initiative launched in 2019.

"Everyone is really interested in making football and other contact and collision sports as safe as possible," said Douglas Terry, a neuropsychologist and co-director of the Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center. "In order to do that, we need to try to understand when do head impacts and concussions potentially occur, and what players might be more affected than others, based on their position and their health history."

Sensors are affixed in the mouthguards of about 40 Vanderbilt players, Terry said. Putting them in the mouth actually places them closer to players' brains than, say, inside a padded helmet, he said.

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The University of Alabama, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin began participating in the research last year. Vanderbilt signed on this week, along with the University of Florida, the University of Georgia and the University of Pittsburgh.

“I’m thrilled to welcome the four new universities into this program, all of which — like the four founding universities — share our commitment to research in service of building a safer, better game,” NFL Senior Vice President of Health and Safety Innovation Jennifer Langton said in a news release. She oversees the program.

“By collecting a larger amount of mouthguard data, we can further our efforts to reduce concussions, while also accelerating our broader goal to reduce all head impacts at all levels of the sport.”

Players can volunteer for the program.

Terry said about 80% of Vanderbilt's players offered to participate.

Frank Gluck is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at fgluck@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FrankGluck.

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