Concussions in rugby: Former players return to first female-focused study

Former players have backed ground-breaking new research into the impact of concussions on women’s rugby.

Repetitive head trauma has been shown to affect women differently than men, with female athletes more susceptible and reporting longer recovery times.

Symptoms can also vary, with men usually experiencing dementia while women report prolonged headaches, mental fatigue and difficulty concentrating.

But despite the findings, rugby’s concussion guidelines are still largely based on the men’s game only – something some former internationals say needs to change.

A medical engineering team at Cardiff University is now aiming to develop the first head impact assessment protocol specifically designed for female athletes.

The study followed 30 players from the university’s women’s rugby team, using special mouthguards, cognitive tests and MRI imaging.

Researchers hope to collect enough data by the end of the year to determine whether new guidelines can be set.

“The female brain is different from the male brain and women’s rugby is different from male rugby, so if we were to use the same protection threshold for men, it would seem inconsistent with the evidence we understand so far,” said lead researcher Peter Theobald.