Neck Braces

[MastaMax]

So what do people think about neck braces?

A friend is in the hospital right now, he went over the bars while jumping and broke his collar bone and two ribs. That sounds like a long wait to get back on the bike again... My personal opinion is that it could have been avoided (at least the collar bone) if he was wearing a neck brace.

Does any own one? How well do they protect and who comfortable are they?

I noticed they are a bit pricey, but about 10'000 baht is still less than a week in the hospital + x months without riding so I think the money shouldn't be a factor.

 

[LUFC]

Any decent bit of body armour MAY have prevented a broken collar bone, the standard MX stuff, but that is really only designed as roost protection.

The neck brace is designed to basically protect the head from moving violently side to side, forward to back.

IMO the neck brace is unlikely to have prevented a broken collarbone. Compared to body armour they are pretty flimsy around the shoulder area.

They do offer great "peace of mind" when wearing them, but they can also be difficult to fit with other body armour / back packs.

I opted for the EVS neck protector and wear it with my Fox armour. It stops the head rolling around in the event of a spill.
It was about 10,000 baht cheaper too.

 

[AlexUSA]

When I visited ??? on Sunday night, he said he was out for at least 3 months and probably longer. That sucks.

He had taken off his chest/shoulder protector and wasn't wearing a neck brace when he crashed (landed too short on a double, coming down on the front wheel and hitting the left side of his helmet, ribs and collarbone on the ground).

Him and ??? seem to think a neck brace would have kept him out of (collarbone) trouble. Not certain.

I'm definitely interested for MX track use but they sure look like a real hassle to wear.

 

[MastaMax]

Luke told me when he broke his collarbone it was actually from the helmet hitting it, so it would have been avoided with a neck brace.

I visited Mao last Monday as well, I know exactly what jump it is as a week before I landed short as well on this double and almost flew over the bars... It's a vicious jump as it has a very steep takeoff so you tend to not stay on the throttle and therefore nose dive.

From now on will definitely wear my roost deflector when going on the MX track for what it will help...

 

[LivinLOS]

I still have a bar in my collarbone I really should have removed as rebreaking it with the bar and pins would be much more messy.. I opted for the metalwork as it reduced recovery time from 3 months to a couple of weeks, I drove myself back to hospital 72h after surgery and was flying (carrying my luggage, getting it into an overhead compartment on the plane) less than a week after. Shocked how fast it healed once movement was isolated, thats the shitty bit with CB breaks, its a very mobile joint and hard to isolate for recovery. For me spending the $$ in having it pinned was worth every penny.

Very much depends on the kind of crash as to if a brace would help, I think of a neck brace as much more isolating the head movement, CB breaks can come from side impact or in my case going down hard and the impact driving it back not in. As I am not currently doing MX type antics I dont think I could live with the hassle for the riding I do.