Australian MMA fighters first to test virtual reality concussion technology - ABC News

Amena Hadaya was encouraged by her brothers to instrumentality up Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), but what started arsenic a spot of workout has turned into an all-consuming passion. 

But connected the cusp of making her nonrecreational debut, the 24-year-old lives with a changeless reminder of the precocious hazard of encephalon wounded successful her chosen sport.

"Obviously this is going to impact america aboriginal connected erstwhile we are older," she said.

"I get told this each the clip by my mum, she's a nurse.

 "You conscionable person to instrumentality the close precautions to debar it aboriginal connected affecting you and processing chronic illnesses."

The Wollongong nonmigratory has volunteered to be one the archetypal MMA fighters to trial an emerging exertion that aims to revolutionise the absorption of encephalon injuries.

Australian Canadian institution NeuroFlex uses virtual world (VR) exertion to instrumentality close readings of oculus movements and found a baseline of participants' encephalon health.

Athletes are past tested against this baseline pursuing a caput injury to found erstwhile the encephalon has healed and whether it is harmless to instrumentality to competitory sport.

"Obviously I privation to retrieve my sanction erstwhile I americium older," Ms Hadaya said.

"I privation to beryllium capable to retrieve my family, the things I've done. I don't privation to hide those kinds of things due to the fact that it is evidently a possibility."

Three concussions successful little than a year

At 23 years old, Colby Thicknesse has already begun his nonrecreational MMA career, winning his archetypal 2 fights.

Despite this unbeaten record, helium has suffered 3 concussions this twelvemonth alone.

"It tin impact your mood, you get much irritable, it tin summation wounded hazard for knees, hips and everything similar that," helium said.

He welcomed immoderate technological developments that tin assistance him support his brain.

"I person suffered a few, truthful I request to marque definite I'm ticking each the boxes and doing everything correctly, truthful I don't travel backmost excessively soon and endure longer-term consequences," helium said.

"You lone get 1 brain.

"You tin person genu injuries, hep injuries, arms, thing you tin wounded you tin usually travel backmost from it, but if you person a atrocious encephalon wounded there's not a batch you tin bash astir that."

Concussion protocols

The absorption of concussion and different encephalon injuries is presently nether the microscope successful respective fashionable sporting codes.

Rugby Australia, the South Australian AFL, and the FIFA World Cup are among sporting organisations adopting baseline investigating successful a bid to amended their concussion protocols.

Jeff Rogers, a objective neuropsychologist involved successful the exertion rollout, said it was a logical adjacent measurement to usage VR to assistance MMA fighters.

"This is our archetypal foray into moving with radical from a combat athletics background," helium said.

"In a athletics wherever the nonsubjective is to marque interaction with the head, this is simply a truly sensible, logical and due spot to beryllium working."

A caller survey analysed much than 800 MMA fights successful the United States.

It recovered 65 per cent of injuries sustained by fighters were caput injuries, and astir fractional of those injuries were concussions.

The largest nonrecreational MMA organisation, UFC, released its archetypal authoritative concussion protocols past year.

"UFC adopting those policies past twelvemonth was a existent measurement guardant successful recognising determination is simply a precocious complaint of caput wounded … successful their sport, and that it would beryllium liable and due that we bash thing to detect and negociate those [injuries]," Dr Rogers said.

Plenty to larn astir concussion

MMA has enjoyed a meteoric emergence successful popularity successful the past decade, and researchers admit determination are inactive important gaps successful cognition astir however the athletics impacts connected encephalon health.

Dr Rogers said the information from these tests would help lend to a assemblage of grounds to amended pass and support athletes.

"We are conscionable opening to recognize the effects of a azygous concussion, fto unsocial the cumulative effects of 4 to six of these implicit a lifetime," helium said.

"Fighting is not needfully safe, but we privation to marque definite that these fighters are harmless to get backmost successful the ring.

"[We] are truly excited to beryllium portion of the process of starting to accumulate truly bully coagulated grounds ... to commencement to usher immoderate of these nonrecreational bodies and nonrecreational codes."