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.
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