CONNACHT WILL PROVIDE medical cooling caps to players who have suffered concussive injuries as part of a trial across the United Rugby Championship.
The URC has entered an agreement with med-tech company PolarCool, whose ‘PolarCap’ product is used in the acute phase of head injury.
The headwear is designed to reduce elevated brain temperature as well as the associated metabolic demand in the brain after a concussion occurs in sports.
The URC’s partnership with PolarCool will see one team from each of the league’s constituent countries use PolarCaps as part of a feasibility study.
Connacht will be the Irish representatives involved in the trial, with Edinburgh, Scarlets, the Bulls and Zebre also taking part in its initial use.
The PolarCap was previously clinically evaluated in a five-year study conducted by Sweden’s Lund University in partnership with the Swedish Ice Hockey League (SHL). The study recorded promising data for reducing the number of prolonged concussions in comparison to hockey players who did not avail of the cooling treatment.
The PolarCap itself is a portable cooling system consisting of a cooling unit, a patented silicone-based headcap, and an insulating neoprene cover.
The cooling unit supplies circulating cold fluid through the headcap which lowers the exercise-induced elevated brain temperature of a concussed athlete.
Players in the URC will be treated for at least 45 minutes after a diagnosed concussion.
URC medical advisor Dr Michael Dunlop, who is also chair of the league’s medical sub committee, said of the partnership:
“In August 2023 it was a pleasure to host a meeting in Edinburgh, attended by a number of the world’s leading Medics in Rugby, Concussion, and Hypothermic Medicine as well as BKT URC and PolarCool management.
“The outcome of which was a shared opinion that it would be good scientific due process to further study the treatment effects of cooling acute concussions in elite rugby with PolarCap. This current agreement is an essential first step to that. Thanks must go to the Teams involved, URC and PolarCool.”
PolarCool’s existing partners within the sport of rugby include the national teams of Australia, Portugal and Georgia, French Top 14 clubs Clermont, Bayonne and Pau, and Premiership outfit Bristol Bears.
