Keep looking at neck braces and thinking Id rather not crush anymore vertebra. wouldn’t it be great if these things actually worked. Sadly, I can’t find any evidence that they do.

Anyone have anything to help the case either way?

Fwiw Ive
Been told there is evidence and info regarding CE markdown the Leatt site, but the mobile site doesn’t have anything.
Anyone know how to stop an iPhone going to the leatt mobile site or just check the main site for me :/

Boing?

Anyone??

I thought about buying one for my alps trip….had pretty much decided it was a total waste of time/money, but a niggling doubt remained in my head… mainly about how silly Id feel if I scrimped on 200 quid and ended up breaking my neck.

In the end I bought one, it was ridiculously uncomfortable and looked like a toilet seat round my neck..

luckily I never got to find out whether it worked or not…I suspect not..

I think they’re worth it if you are regularly doing high speed DH.
kids seems to wear them as a necklace with their Troy Lee D3, along with no other body armour. but I guess the risk might be higher for them with their lollipop heads and skinny necks.

It’s a subject I’ve been interested for some time as someone who is involved in the treatment of spinal injuries.
There is nothing at all published in peer review medical journals.
Leatt have done their own in house testing and I believe are in the process of releasing their evidence in a series of videos.
In the scientific world private research not published for the public scrutiny of the methodology, and conclusions effectively means there is no evidence.

Edit: Here is a link to one of these videos.
Cheers Ant!

Yep. Though, to be fair a lack of external testing doesn’t automatically mean there’s no benefit either- there’s no CE test for neck braces frinstance so it’s an absence of testing rather than an absence of succesful tests. Hopefully we’ll see that change at some point, they’ve become fairly popular lately.

Like tpbiker I purchased one just to give myself the best chance should i have a big accident.
In the time I’ve owned the leat brace I have one big headplant and the brace seemed to keep my head straight and my whole head locked in position.
I have read that extreme impacts can cause collar bone brakes as in the cases of MX and desert racing etc so in effect the Collar bone is sacrificed.
In the absence of independent research the debate will go on !!!

” it was ridiculously uncomfortable and looked like a toilet seat round my neck..”

Not too bothered about the looks, but I struggled a bit comfort wise at first. I’d suggest lots of adjustment/fettling as I don’t know I’m wearing mine now.

The Commissaires a races are constantly telling people off for walking around with the brace on without the helmet. Some guy fell over with one on and broke his neck or something. So kids, if you buy one, make sure and undo it when you are strolling about the park.

I actually ended up going with an Evs rather than leatt one…i’d read it was less likely to break the collarbone, and also read somewhere that the leatt should not, under any circumstances be worn without the helmet as if you fell over whilst walking it actually increased the likelyhood of injury! Not sure how true this is however.

Either way, the EVS had zero adjustability…

Keep looking at neck braces and thinking Id rather not crush anymore vertebra.

Crush injuries are not what these are meant to prevent; more “whiplash” style injuries.

Hmmmm, interesting.

I’m going to Whistler in a few weeks and was toying with the idea of getting one.

I do some DH here, so it won’t be used soley for the holiday.

I have crashed (came up short last year in Chatel) while wearing a Leatt & I believe it ‘saved my neck’

This was the carbon lid bottom edge where it impacted onto the brace.

what are we meant to be looking at? ^^

The cracks & broken carbon weave / matting

They’ve saved loads of spinal injuries already. Anything that transfers impact force away from the neck will have an effect. Same with wrist guards, if everyone wore them riding I doubt we’d see another broken wrist. Nobody wearing one has been paralyzed at Whistler BP and they have about 6 people paralyzed annually.

JCL you may be right but there isn’t evidence to support that comment and in this day and age no evidence means its just a matter of opinion which doesn’t count for much.
There isn’t evidence to say that these protective devices don’t work either TBF.
The reason I am interested in this is that I have treated many kids with serious spinal injuries who were wearing these braces. My concern is that these kids and their parents thought they were safer with the braces on.
It may actually be that these braces increase the risk of serious injury and until somebody does independent non commercially motivated research nobody will ever know.

Nobody wearing one has been paralyzed at Whistler BP and they have about 6 people paralyzed annually.

Jeez that’s awful 🙁

Don’t know about the neck braces but re wrist guards, isn’t there evidence, from snowboarding in particular, that the force which would have caused a wrist injury is simply transferred resulting in # of radius/ulna ?

a niggling doubt remained in my head… mainly about how silly Id feel if I scrimped on 200 quid and ended up breaking my neck.

In the end I bought one

Isn’t that the only reason anyone has ever bought a neck brace?

I’m sure they’re well-intentioned and they’re obviously doing their in house studies to improve the product, which is great. But there wasn’t anything especially convincing on that video – I remain skeptical of their real-world benefit.

In 2006 I was riding the Pleney and pre-jumped into a near bomb hole section. My front wheel landed into a braking bump (hole); my forks compressed fully and extended, which coupled with the speed, threw me some distance over the bars.

I landed on my head then right hip very awkwardly and knocked myself out. As I landed I twisted so violently that I fractures my L2 vertebrae. Would a neck brace have prevented this?

I don’t think so – if I remember correctly, the L2 is 5th up from bottom. I’m more concerned that they make people think they can’t get hurt, and then ride beyond their capabilities. This is what causes big injuries.

Edit: also, a part of my job is to investigate fatal & life altering injury RTC’s. Clearly, there’s a difference between a car or motorcycle crash and a MTB crash (the former are more violent and more likely to kill you), but one thing that occurs to me is that in 9 years of doing this I have dealt with many fatals and just one life altering crash involving broken necks, and every single death has been caused by the vehicle turning over and the force coming directly from above. The neck is designed to be very flexible in many directions but the one that virtually always has terrible consequences is the direct from above impact. A neck brace will do sod all for that.

Now this is not to say fatalities or serious injury does not occur due to whiplash injuries, but theyre generally at a minority.

I’m more concerned that they make people think they can’t get hurt, and then ride beyond their capabilities. This is what causes big injuries.

The year before I made the the same gap. 😉

Just like helmets then.

I’m more concerned that they make people think they can’t get hurt, and then ride beyond their capabilities. This is what causes big injuries.

What you’re referring to here is risk compensation.
This essentially is the act of taking greater risk due to the impression that one is safe due to the use of protective equipment.
It is an argument that is used extensively to refute the safety benefits of helmet use in cyclists. ( let’s not go there please!!)
I agree and am concerned that kids and their parents believe they are being protective by wearing neck braces when no evidence of safety benefit at all exists.
Do they know this? I doubt it. I think they should before they make their purchase and hit the trail.

the parents who buy their children neck braces are the same parents who buy them a top end DH bike, “need” doesn’t come into it 😉

personally I reckon a neck brace would do me more harm than good

Just like helmets then.

Fair point, though I think the benefit of a helmet has been thoroughly tested for certain injuries.

I agree and am concerned that kids and their parents believe they are being protective by wearing neck braces when no evidence of safety benefit at all exists.
Do they know this? I doubt it. I think they should before they make their purchase and hit the trail.

Good point – who does test these things?

The neck is designed to be very flexible in many directions but the one that virtually always has terrible consequences is the direct from above impact. A neck brace will do sod all for that.

Surely the difference being you are not seat belted in a 2 tonne box, the impact marks on top of my helmet & the direction of travel makes me think the impact was from above.

GW given your stance on helmets I am not surprised with your opinion here.
At least your consistent and I respect you for that! 😀

I wear a full face when riding DH and other types of armour at certain tracks hugor

, the impact marks on top of my helmet & the direction of travel makes me think the impact was from above.

I’m possibly missing something here; if because of marks on top of your helmet and your direction of travel, you believe you landed on your head, and looking at those leatt braces they’re designed to prevent “whiplash” style injuries, how did the brace “save your neck”?

I’m not saying it didn’t – I wasn’t there, but it’s just as easily the case that it didn’t.

The neck is designed to be very flexible in many directions but the one that virtually always has terrible consequences is the direct from above impact. A neck brace will do sod all for that.

Without even looking into it, I would far rather have a neck brace filling out the space between my shoulders/collar bone area and the rim of the helmet if I were to have an impact from above. Its got to do more good than harm in that direction,surely?

Where will it all end ?
Ultimate protection

Fair point, though I think the benefit of a helmet has been thoroughly tested for certain injuries.

Yes but risk compensation means that helmeted riders are more likely to crash cancelling out any benefit.

i havent read any of the posts after the first. but this will help clear it up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fJ5NvChWbpo

Don’t know about the neck braces but re wrist guards, isn’t there evidence, from snowboarding in particular, that the force which would have caused a wrist injury is simply transferred resulting in # of radius/ulna ?

I personally think this is a misconception, and haven’t seen any evidence to convince otherwise, but if it were true wouldn’t you rather have a broken radius/ulna than a scaphoid? Or a broken collar bone rather than a neck?

The neck is designed to be very flexible in many directions but the one that virtually always has terrible consequences is the direct from above impact. A neck brace will do sod all for that.

If you read the literature published by Leatt and Alpine stars you will find this is exactly what they are designed for.

The reason I am interested in this is that I have treated many kids with serious spinal injuries who were wearing these braces. My concern is that these kids and their parents thought they were safer with the braces on.
It may actually be that these braces increase the risk of serious injury and until somebody does independent non commercially motivated research nobody will ever know.

What specific injuries are we talking about? I hear a lot of crap regarding the rear section of the brace causing damage to the spine itself. Good interview with Leatt dispelling some myths here – http://vurbmoto.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/20110824/leatt.mp3

Nobody wearing one has been paralyzed at Whistler BP and they have about 6 people paralyzed annually.

Well that proves it then. 🙄

the parents who buy their children neck braces are the same parents who buy them a top end DH bike, “need” doesn’t come into it

I don’t wear one but I did buy one for my son. Not because they are trendy but because I would never forgive myself if he broke his neck for the sake of saving £150. I would prefer to find out that I wasted my money than find out too late that it could have saved him getting hurt.

Nobody wearing one has been paralyzed at Whistler BP

Yes non of the people eating one page of the bible each mile while crossing India by train has ever been attacked by a white tiger…
(and it’s paralysed).

personally I reckon a neck brace would do me more harm than good

Yes but not everyone has your godlike skillz!!!

Where will it end?

When everyone’s a Soltaran