Nobody wearing one has been paralyzed at Whistler BP and they have about 6 people paralyzed annually.
Fortunately this is just another one of those 79.995% of stats made up for internet fourms.
Whistler doesn’t see anything like that number. There has been cases of paralysis as a result if injury in the bike park, but its a rare occurance.
Whistler does however see neck injuries requiring precautionary colar/spine board evacuation, whistler also has an increasing number of riders wearing neck braces.
The chat from patrol is that they are seeing potential c-spine injuries being pushed into T-spine locations.
So, that would suggest that neck braces are for mountain biking what wrist guards are for snowboarding…. they simply move the stress location further away from the area being ‘protected’.
This study is pre neck braces, but interesting reading and specific to WBP
Injury Study – Whistler Bike Park
Ride in whatever makes you comfortable, but not so much that you feel invincible and ride above your ability. /2c