A Laboratory Protocol for Shoulder-Head and Head-Ground Dummy Head Accelerations During Player High-Speed Rugby Tackles
Date
Authors
Bradshaw, Elizabeth J
Conte-Biggar, Alex
Drinkwater, Eric J
Morris, Bradley A
Bruce, Lyndell M
Hume, Patria A
King, Doug A
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
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Publisher
PeerJ Inc.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of a novel laboratory testing protocol for dummy head biomechanics of the shoulder-head and subsequent head-ground impacts during rugby tackles. Currently, no research in tackles utilizes a real player as the tackler and considers the second impact when the opponent's head hits the ground. METHODS: A dummy was instrumented with an inertial measurement unit (IMU; 1,200 Hz) behind the right ear. Eleven rugby players with a shoulder placed IMU executed right shoulder high tackles to the left side of the dummy's head at two closing velocities (high-speed 15-17 km/hr and very-high-speed 21-23 km/hr) for three dummy head conditions (no headgear, club-level headgear, professional-level headgear). Peak resultant linear and rotational accelerations were calculated for the first impact event (shoulder-head) for the player's shoulder IMU and for the two impact events (shoulder-head, head-ground) for the dummy head IMU. RESULTS: Whilst the player experienced low linear accelerations (fast-speed = 10 g, very-fast-speed = 13 g) through their shoulder during the tackle impact (shoulder-head collision), the linear accelerations were six times higher (63 g; p = 0.003) for the dummy head for the high-speed approach and seven times higher (88 g; p = 0.003) for the very-high-speed approach. The second head-ground impact was generally lower for the linear accelerations (p < 0.004) but unchanged for the rotational accelerations (fast-speed = 4,589-4,955 rad/s2, very-fast-speed = 6,948-7,123 rad/s2) for the dummy head. Resultant rotational acceleration significantly increased for the dummy head-ground impact when club-level headgear was worn for the very-high-speed approach (8,434 rad/s2, p = 0.045). No other significant differences were observed between the no headgear and headgear tests. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of a protocol measuring linear and rotational accelerations of a dummy's head during high-speed rugby tackles where a real player's shoulder hit the dummy's head and the dummy's head hit the floor. Trialing the protocol showed high impact accelerations experienced when receiving a tackle did not reduce with headgear. The experimental methodology and tools developed provide the basis for more complete testing of head biomechanics in tackles.Description
Keywords
Biomechanics, Collision, Concussion, Football, Head acceleration, Injury, Method, Protective equipment, Biomechanics, Collision, Concussion, Football, Head acceleration, Injury, Method, Protective equipment, 42 Health Sciences, 4207 Sports Science and Exercise, 06 Biological Sciences, 11 Medical and Health Sciences
Source
PeerJ, ISSN: 2167-8359 (Print); 2167-8359 (Online), PeerJ Inc., 14, e20953-. doi: 10.7717/peerj.20953
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© 2026 Bradshaw et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.