Rugby players take their fair share of hits. While playing for Lehigh University, Jessie Garcia took one in particular that left her struggling.
“I was playing in a game, going in for a try and got completely blindsided by a girl,” Garcia explained. “It wasn’t until my coach three days later was looking at the footage and emailed me saying, ‘Jessie, I’m so sorry, I should’ve taken you out of the game, you definitely were concussed.'”
In the following months, Garcia dealt with post-concussive symptoms. Daily reading and balance became a struggle with excessive light and noise were painful. That experience, and a background in technical entrepreneurship, inspired Garcia to develop a new head impact warning system called Tozuda.
Tozuda is a mechanical system that will be more affordably-priced than its electronic rivals. Garcia is currently working towards a goal of raising $30,000 on Kickstarter, and is offering individual sensors to early backers for $30. “This current version, or what this sensor is based on, is a spring-based patented technology,” said Garcia. “It can detect linear and rotational impacts from any direction.”
The device is a small tube divided into compartments filled with either clear fluid or red dye. A spring holds tiny ball bearings that seal holes between the compartments. A significant impact can jostle the balls out of place, releasing the red dye into the main part of the tube, and turning the whole device red. Designed to be attached to the back of any helmet, Tozuda is suitable for sports like football, hockey, lacrosse, and cycling, but not rugby.
Tozuda has mostly worked with high school and youth teams, and, according to Garcia, those teams like the fact that the device is visible to everyone. “It’s not just one person looking at a cell phone to see if someone got hurt,” Garcia said. “A fellow player can point it out, a ref could point it out. Pretty much anyone can see the back of anyone’s helmet. They like that it’s a team effort and not just one person’s responsibility.”
There are plenty of other options. SyncThink, a headset that tracks eye movement, is used by pro teams like the Golden State Warriors. A mouth guard made by Prevent Biometrics was tested by the NFL in March. Another mouthguard made by HitIQ has been used in Aussie rules football.
However, according to Garcia, the issues with those options are steep prices and too much data. “The problem is when you talk to these coaches at high school and youth levels, they don’t know what to do with that data, it’s too much information for them.
“I think there are some great solutions out there, I just think they’re targeted at different people.”