Is a neck Brace a must have thing for DH riding?

PB Forum :: Downhill
Is a neck Brace a must have thing for DH riding?
Author Message
flag buildstuf
Posted: Oct 10, 2015 at 11:34 Quote
hmmm. i race with a neck brace, but ride casually without one. just learn not not fall off lol
flag SlavIntruder
Posted: Oct 12, 2015 at 10:18 Quote
jep.

in short: skills > plastic
flag callumsnookmtb
Posted: Mar 27, 2016 at 5:54 Quote
vi5a wrote:
Westhewizard wrote:
cale wrote:


Quite the immature response, I'd say his last line sums it up perfectly. If you can afford the bike, you can afford the gear...the same is true for any discipline with two wheels.


Thanks for the response cale. You are right that was a immature response. I hope vi5a also realize how immature it is because it is a quote he made directed toward me but alot worse.

Sorry for hijacking this post. I hope everyone got the answer they were looking for. Vi5a is a LBS hater. And I am still waiting for a response to my pm.

1.) This is a thread about neck braces. Not about local bike shops.

2.) I don't hate local bike shops. Just don't much like the one in the city I live in.

3.) For a LBS to track me down on PinkBike because of the bad review I left them on Google is quite immature. I will not delete it! It is my right to voice any opinion I have towards a bike shop. That's how I felt. And I'm not the only one that has felt that way walking into your shop.

4.) I ask that you not continue to track me down just so I can delete that review. If you continue to do so, it could be considered harassment. And for a LBS to harass a customer, is very unprofessional.

LOL
I HATE MY LBS TO BUT I HAVE FOUND A NEW ONE THAT I LOVE.

ANY WAY I WOULD 100 PERCENT BUY A NECK BRACE!!!!!!!!!
flag camerondodd98
Posted: Oct 15, 2016 at 15:38 Quote
Just out of curiosity? Does anyone know why so many world cup riders are no longer wearing neckbraces? So many of them used to wear them how ever stopped, i thought more people would start wearing them since the new leatt designs are so much more light and comfy.
flag wizard604
O+
Posted: Oct 16, 2016 at 0:36 Quote
I came across a young guy in a wheelchair just last week when I was picking up my pressure suit which was being repaired at local seamstress shop. He noticed the armour and we got chatting. Turns out he used to be a pro mountain biker. Has competed in crankworx joyride, so must have been a pretty skilled rider. He broke his neck few years ago in the whistler bike park and is now a paraplegic. I felt pretty bad for him as he's so young and now confined to a wheelchair.

It really has me thinking about neck braces as well as the whole risk vs rewards thing. If a neck brace will lower that risk, why not go for it. Esp in this sport where you're always treading a fine line between being in control and crashing

I wish I had got the guy's name.
flag MX298
Posted: Oct 18, 2016 at 11:20 Quote
Grew up racing motocross as did my son's. always bought them leatt braces but I NEVER wore one! one practice day with flaggers at our local MX track I jump a big double and there was a guy on the landing pick up his bike, I hit him and went head first in the dirt. (Flagger never put the caution flag out as he thought the down rider would get out of the way in time). Broke three vertebrae and spent months in the hospital, pretty messed up neck now but never broke my collarbone! Anyway now the boys race downhill at the pro level and they both still wear their Leatt's. I would rather break a collarbone then go through what I did and I was lucky! ! !
flag 700pirate
Posted: Oct 21, 2016 at 8:20 Quote
I use an old R4 and have had some pretty big bails and crashes mx/dh. Felt my helmet bottom out on it and prevent my neck over extending in any direction. Looks like a toilet seat but hey sticker that sh1t up. Havent been sore since wearing it so at this point seems to save me from spraining my neck. Just been lucky I guess.
flag mysticaldriverofbelgrade
Posted: Jun 15, 2017 at 4:40 Quote
dnlparr wrote:
hey, i never thought i would bother to buy a neck brace because ive got other things to spend money one. reading this has scaird me a bit and ill defonitly try and get hold of one soon. thanks heaps guys!! tup
Of course you need one ! I'm idiot and i did fall from big stairs to my head ! Without helmet , and i had shellshock. Im 14 years old and my parents told me to sell bike. Now i cant ride bike Big Grin I will wait to my 18 birthday and buy new. So you need a helmet at least ! (I had 2010 scott gambler dh10 ... Jail :mad2Smile If you have some spare cash buy nec brace!
flag Websterminator
Posted: Dec 15, 2017 at 7:32 Quote
I know I'm late to the party, but WEAR THE GEAR!! If had a brace and full helmet I wouldn't have broken my neck 3 weeks ago. I was on a singletrack ride, and took a detour on a skills park. I scrubbed the jump, and got ejected OTB. C1 and C2 type 1 fractures put me in the hospital for 5 days over Thanksgiving ( my wife was sooooo stoked!). Now I have months in a brace and rehab to look forward to, no riding or surfing for 6 months ( we'll see if I can bare that), and some medical bills. I always ride with a helmet, but I'll have the proper one for the terrain from now on. Best wishes to all and keep shredding!
flag Websterminator
Posted: Dec 15, 2017 at 7:33 Quote
Kaloo wrote:
dnlparr wrote:
hey, i never thought i would bother to buy a neck brace because ive got other things to spend money one. reading this has scaird me a bit and ill defonitly try and get hold of one soon. thanks heaps guys!! tup
Of course you need one ! I'm idiot and i did fall from big stairs to my head ! Without helmet , and i had shellshock. Im 14 years old and my parents told me to sell bike. Now i cant ride bike Big Grin I will wait to my 18 birthday and buy new. So you need a helmet at least ! (I had 2010 scott gambler dh10 ... Jail :mad2Smile If you have some spare cash buy nec brace!
flag Websterminator
Posted: Dec 15, 2017 at 7:35 Quote
I'm 50 buddy, and my wife told me the same thing. You're young, so get the gear and keep going. I am!
flag ORTOGONAL555
Posted: Dec 15, 2017 at 17:57 Quote
For me it comes down to personal preference and I'd never ride without one. I think it works and I don't care if it can brake your collarbones ( IMO they don't) if it reduces the probability of a neck injury even by 1%. Another factor never quite considered in debates is that a neck brace could reduce whiplashes ( I really feel it blocking my head from moving too much around, especially during motocross rides or big impacts). However some people fell wery uncomfortable wearing one and I can understand it. Now there are also some really light offerings on the market, like atlas braces( I'd love to try one of those).
flag ORTOGONAL555
Posted: Dec 15, 2017 at 17:58 Quote
For me it comes down to personal preference and I'd never ride without one. I think it works and I don't care if it can brake your collarbones ( IMO they don't) if it reduces the probability of a neck injury even by 1%. Another factor never quite considered in debates is that a neck brace could reduce whiplashes ( I really feel it blocking my head from moving too much around, especially during motocross rides or big impacts). However some people fell wery uncomfortable wearing one and I can understand it. Now there are also some really light offerings on the market, like atlas braces( I'd love to try one of those).
flag ntd14
Posted: Dec 17, 2017 at 19:11 Quote
There was a fairly serious crash locally yesterday which made me think about this again so have spent the last couple hours doing white paper searches and there still seams to be very little out there addressing the question as to if there is a net benefit in wearing neck braces in downhill or moto etc.

NOTE I am not suggesting they dont to anything, am only saying there is little scientific evidence (that I can find at this time) yet - it is hard for medical professionals to get results for these types of questions because they cant do things like trials such as they can with drugs. This in its self is not a reason to not ware one.

Regarding their use in moto Dr JP Driver-Jowitt wrote a post suggesting we need to think carefully about what we expect from them https://drjpdriverjowitt.wordpress.com/ He appears to be well respected in his field, but it is not a scientific study.

The most concerning problem he addresses is that the restriction of the neck may well reduce the chance of neck injuries, but it may also be increasing the chance of traumatic brain injury. From a physical perspective this makes sense, by restricting moment of the neck it reduces the ability to go into hyper-flection/extension (they do not claim to help protect from pure axial compression, only help when it is coupled with another extreme movement). By reducing the range of motion in the neck it increases the deceleration rate of the brain as it impacts the scull. If the neck has a large range of motion the impact can dissipate the same amount of energy over a longer time - ie a lower impulse force is experienced by the brain during deceleration.

When the brain impacts the scull hard enough internal bleeding and swelling can occur inside the confines of the scull, the increased pressure can rapidly cause brain damage and death. This is why when doctors suspect we have a TBI the give us a CT scan and look at what the blood is doing inside the scull.

Sun et. al. ( http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13588265.2012.700097?needAccess=true ) Completed a numnber of simulations and state the following in their discussion:

The three different safety systems technologies stud-
ied in this work did not show any major changes within
the whole cervical spine injury mechanisms except regard-
ing movement amplitudes. Hence, according to simulations
performed, neck brace systems investigated did not propose
a technological means to improving neck injury protection
by modifying injury mechanisms.

However they do go on to postulate that there may be a change in risk - both up and down - for various neck injuries.

More recently Khosroshai and Galvanetto ( https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Siamak_Khosroshahi/publication/304101101_Finite_Element_Simulation_of_Neck_Brace_Protective_Equipment_for_Motorcycle_Riders/links/5766796908ae1658e2f6ff0c.pdf ) did some computer simulations simulating hyper extension and flection (what neck braces are meant to be good at preventing) and found that while some cases they did help, in others they increased injury.

If anyone has found any scientific articles which investigate the problem please post them.

 


Copyright © 2000 - 2024. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv42 0.026917
Mobile Version of Website