THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BOXING HEADGUARDS WITH THERMOPLASTIC POLYURETHANE INSERTS IN MITIGATING LINEAR AND ANGULAR IMPACT ACCELERATIONS TO THE HEAD USING A DYNAMIC HEAD MODEL

Authors

Tyson Rybak, Lakehead UniversityFollow
Paolo Sanzo, Lakehead UniversityFollow
Meilan Liu, Lakehead UniversityFollow
Carlos Zerpa, Lakehead UniversityFollow

Category

Combat Sports

Document Type

Paper

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the capacity of commercial boxing headguards and an experimental thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) liner to mitigate the risk of concussions. Headguards were tested dynamically across a range of impact locations using simulated head impacts with a pneumatic horizontal impactor to explore the behavior of the headguards. This study showed differences between headguard types in mitigating concussion risk resulting from linear and angular accelerations of the head. The results demonstrated that introducing TPU into a headguard reduces concussion risk most prominently by decreasing peak resultant linear acceleration (PRLA) and peak resultant rotational acceleration (PRRA) of the head. This study provides information about the performance of commercial headguards and suggests an avenue for further TPU research.

Recommended Citation

Rybak, Tyson; Sanzo, Paolo; Liu, Meilan; and Zerpa, Carlos (2022) "THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BOXING HEADGUARDS WITH THERMOPLASTIC POLYURETHANE INSERTS IN MITIGATING LINEAR AND ANGULAR IMPACT ACCELERATIONS TO THE HEAD USING A DYNAMIC HEAD MODEL," ISBS Proceedings Archive: Vol. 40: Iss. 1, Article 146.
Available at: https://commons.nmu.edu/isbs/vol40/iss1/146