Since the overall number of injuries is relatively small, it will be several years before any statistically significant change can be shown and validated. However, at this point, we have seen a trend toward a decrease in cervical spinal injuries with use of neck braces and no increase in clavicle or thoracic injuries. We can only hope that this trend continues and we can see a reduction in the number and severity of spinal injuries. Although real world testing may be impossible, manufacturers invest significant time and money in testing their products with computer simulations, crash test dummies and hours spent poring over the data they collect to ensure their products offer the best possible protection.
As with any protective equipment, the choice as to how far to go and what to wear is entirely with the rider. In the UK the only bit of protective kit enshrined in law is the helmet, so everything else beyond that is entirely your choice. For trail riders, increased protection is usually part of the riding kit as we said in the introduction, and reflects the increased risk of riding off-road. So should your kit bag contain a neck brace?
To answer this depends on your attitude to risk and the type of riding you regularly indulge in. If you are a weekend trail rider , happy to bimble along at 15 mph on the local lanes, then going out kitted like a supercross ride might seem an inappropriate response — in reality the most risky part of your ride may well be the road before the lanes! For faster riders and adventure bike riders, then neck braces begin to make more sense. And if you are on an adventure bike, then you can double that figure.
In that situation, deciding to wear a neck brace may prove to be a very wise decision. Click Here for details. First of is one of the original Leatt GPX braces. Although it comes with a chest strap to hold in place, the GPX conveniently fits perfectly into the aperture on a Thor Sentinel Chest guard giving entire upper body protection in one unit. Our second option is an EVS brace that is a simpler and slightly more compact design.
This is our choice out on the trails at it sits into the shoulders comfortably, held in place by a chest strap. There are plenty of options out there, and companies like Leatt now offer body armour with integral braces, which addresses two requirements with one bit of kit.
Either way, make sure you try the brace with your usual riding kit, body armour and helmet. And once you have one then wear it — no matter how sophisticated the design, neck braces are not effective if they are sitting in the kit bag …. I wear a leatt 5. Happy I had my brace on could have been so much worse.
I was just cruising down a trail, still not sure what I hit. Leatt and other companies have a variety of options from full-on braces to body armour with integral braces — probably a better option than a ring of foam that would restrict movement. Several years ago, I was sprinting uphill on a pedaled bicycle, bearing down full weight on the pedals.
My helmet protected my head, but had a huge split in the area of impact. I now have a nice bone nodule on the back of my neck. Lightweight neck braces seem to be a protective answer. This last winter my neck became more crunchy than normal and found out two vertebrae had broken off the rear facing spurs and were floating around my neck.
Doctor and Chiropractor said if it does not hurt , go ahead and ride. So met up with fellow Adventure riders and tried some off road. Thirty miles in my neck was not having fun. I had to opt out of all the planned rides. Neck is quite stiff and nice amount of pain.
I am looking for something that may absorb some of the helmet weight. Anyone know what manufacturer might make custom ones for under a million dollars? It is essentially a table surface that the bottom rim of the helmet contacts during a crash. When the helmet contacts the brace, the energy from the head and helmet is redirected to the shoulders, upper back and chest to protect the cervical spine.
The road model can be used on the racetrack, but the RR has a few features that make it a better choice for track riding. The RR version also differs from the STX Road model by utilizing a solid fixed ring setup with two emergency releases, which requires the rider to slip the brace over the head. The street STX Road features a locking hinge design that allows the rider to fit it by clamping it around the neck.
The RR uses a lighter, simpler spacer fitting system compared to the street version, which comes with several different sized inserts to customize fit. Both models come with optional straps for securing the brace in place. I used the straps for several track days, but it takes more time to attach them. Besides, I feel confident that the brace will stay in place without the straps. However, the most significant difference between the RR and the Road versions is that the RR model has a lower profile, which means that it is farther away from the base of the helmet.
This reduces effectiveness somewhat compared to the Road version, but the lower profile, in conjunction with the hinged front wing, allows the rider to move more freely when going from hanging off in corners to tucking fully behind a windscreen on the straights.
Fitting the brace properly requires adjustment of the swiveling scapular wings, which are marked for precise degree adjustment, as well as removal or placement of front, rear and side spacer pads. Measuring the distance from the bottom of the helmet to the top of the brace is important for the brace to be most protective and comfortable.
After a session on the racetrack, I determined that the brace was sitting too close to my helmet, preventing me from turning my head fully in certain corners. Removing the shoulder spacer pads solved the problem. The combination of light weight and proper fitment means I can ride without noticing that I even have the brace on.
Once on with a full-face helmet, things feel pretty normal and other than at extremes of motion the helmet doesn't' contact the brace. When riding, it's easy to forget that you've got it on and you can just get down to riding. If you stop for a break, then it removes at the pop of a button so you never feel trapped! Comfort or lack of it is the usual concern for those who are considering a brace, and it's clear with the DBX5.
Sure, you know it's there, but that could just as easily been seen as reassurance as it could be an irritant. The only way is to try and realise how unobtrusive a neck brace can be. It works well with or without the chest strap, the strap just keeps things even snugger and will most likely come down to personal preference. In the event of an injury, there is an emergency release on the other side to be able to remove the brace without interfering with the neck.
If you spend a lot of time in a full-face helmet, doing uplift and hitting the park, then it's hard to think of a reason why you shouldn't invest in a neck brace. It's always hard to know where to draw the line with protection kit, but given the sort of injuries, the brace can help prevent, Leatt makes a compelling argument.
It's not cheap, but then its a high tech piece of kit designed to keep you safe so hard to argue with on that front. Easy to adjust and comfortable to wear on the bike, there are now even fewer reasons to not use a neck brace. For those gravity-fed riders who live in a full-face helmet, the BDX5.
Thanks for a great novel. Good idea to put an article like this out there, now if only you could tell the retailers how important these things are, and get them to give us a good deal. If they were affordable and widespread, you wouldn't have this issue, and you wouldn't be making this article. Exactly, I want to get one for safety but its just way too expensive. I can't understand why there so dear. Oh and is there any other neck brace companies Paton?
There so expensive because they spent millions designing, researching it and testing it. I dont like it, but this is how capitalism works.
Amongst the marketing hype and the friendly sales pitch, they care about their balance sheet and profit ratio - not the welfare of me n my friends. Might buy that at some point soon, thanks l00cas And your completely right raveglia, we get completely ripped off in this biking market but the companies know that we wil buy the products cause we're hooked on the sport lol.
How about mentioning some of the other manufactures of such braces? Or are you too much of fanboy? If you read the title of the article, you would see this is a review on the Leatt Neck Braces, not any other kind. As far as im aware Si only sells Leatt Neck Braces, so would you really want someone who doesn't sell or potentially not know anything about another neck brace to write an article on one, say the EVS neck brace, and potentially mislead people?
I guess it depends whether your eyes just read some friendly advice from a fellow rider, or a written pitch from a salesman. Maaaah, my cynicism is playin up again. In the SDA gloves are compulsory but neck braces aren't?!? Where's the logic behind that? A small proportion of crashes will involve serious neck injury. A high proportion of crashes will involve cheaply-and-easily preventable hand skinning.
Pluck your own ballpark figures out of the air. In a full season at whistler, my guess would be something like a dozen spinal injuries resulting in paralysis and probably that number PER DAY skinning their hands. Now apply some logic, if you can, to an analogy. Driving cars results in a death every few minutes but they havent been banned outright.
Instead we put rules in place to make maximum safety and minimum inconvenience for the greatest number of people. So yes, you can still buy a car even though you might die in it. No, you are not allowed to spank it down the motorway at But of course, you realise all this and were just trying to look smart.
Common sense doesn't seem to be all that common. I think the general fact that everbody seems to be avoiding is that neck braces are good at protecting your neck. Therefore they should be of at least some interest to everyone. If you bought a Leatt, and from that day never crashed in a way that could harm your neck then so be it.
You could call it a waste of money. But if you end up eating through a straw then I guess you'll be having seconds thoughts via your electronic voice generator. As I hope I've pointed out, no mountainbiker who has fallen could say that about gloves.
The last time I wore no gloves was when I lost them at Fort William. Interestingly this happened to coincide with the day I broke my wrist in half - and waheyy I had to have a skin graft on the back of my hand. Wont be making that mistake again! Gsnickets May 18, at BUT, you will be in a lot of pain for the rest of your life. I've broken C4, twice, and in one crash broke T10, 11, and 12 with 6 herniated discs as well.
Trust me, if I would have known then what I do now, I would have gladly paid a couple grand to avoid the pain and extra cost of breaking my back To all the people saying the neck is the shock absorber for the head, and these could cause brain damage are absolutely clueless The abstract just got personal.
Sorry to hear about your misfortune and I'm glad that you're as well as you are. From a person who has a fused neck now at C3-C4 from 9 months ago, it is well worth the little investment just don't have that coffee you have every morning for a month and little things like that save a lot of money very quickly!! I have been back racing now and it gives me great peace of mind and I have already had a fall that it probably helped out a lot with.
I think it would be hard to justify the expense if you are not racing, but if you do race it is worth it and you don't even feel it when it is on. Unfortunately it will not help out very much with Thorasic injuries like Gsnickets'. Hope you make a full recovery!! I read this far and still wasn't sure about investing in a neck brace, now I just want to find one at a good price Thanks to everyone in the discussion! Everybody, quit whining about the price I suspect its a F K of a lot cheaper than a decent wheelchair and a life time supply of coloscopy bags!
Get real, this is your life your playing with, its not worth taking chances. Most people who are whining about the price simply cant afford it. It doesn't make the slightest bit of difference how good they are unless I can afford one, and frankly I have better things to spend that money on. I know you'll say 'but it's worth it for your life' but theres just no way I'm spending that much on one.
If I had the money I'd probably consider it, but I have also heard about them causing stress in other places of your neck in a crash. I think I'll just wait for the price to fall, and while I'm waiting I'll check for people getting brain damage from them. Seems like a bit of a racerboi fasion at the moment Piontless comment! Has it been proven or is this just the usual sceptical word of mouth?! I'd say the latter! Their worn by motor X riders, F1 drivers, rally drivers intact nearly all motor sport disciplines.
If it damages other places worse, do you think they'd still be using them?! Again I think not. I only doubted how good they were in a tiny part of my comment, the main part of my comment was about people simply not being able to afford them so really it wasn't pointless. I do know a lot of people use them, but there still is a possibility it could do put stress on other parts of the neck.
If you read the review it says don't wear them when you arn't on your bike because if you fall over backwards it'll act as a pivot point. What happens when you fly over the bars and land on your back?
I'm saying that in some situations they could do more harm than good, but it doesn't look like I'm buying one anyway, they are just too expensive at the moment. I know that one of the 4x racers of the Scott team at the WC in south africa broke three of his C vertebraets think 3,5 and 6.
He was very lucky and will be ok and back on track in a few weeks. They had the Leatt Brace on their "to buy" list, but they didn't come in before the WC Right know he's walking around with a tower around his neck made out of steel tubes and it doesn't look comfortable at all. The good point is that all of a sudden some of the kids are wearing leatt braces and mine is on its way, too. No reason to be scared, but good writing in here and sometimes people need an extra hint to make a decision.
I've got a horror story from the Leatt. My dads friend was riding MX wearing just about every kind of protection ever made including the leatt. He cased a whoop, went over the bars and landed on his head.
The impact forced his helmet back into the leatt and stopped it like it was supposed to, but then all the force drove the lower part of the leatt right into his spine, breaking his back. He's a parapalegic now, and that is what he told me he beleives. Yes, the leatt may have kept him from breaking his neck and becoming a quadrapalegic but I would look into the EVS brace for better overall protection.
They are cheaper, theres no bolts, and it transfers loads more to the shoulders instead of the spine! Dirtfaz May 18, at Mate that is sad, can he still walk or does he need a wheel chair, i am now looking at the allternative you sugested because, i nkow for a fact i would not like that to happen to me, and neith would anyone else for it to happen to them,.
Sad story. But good to hear he sees the positive of wearing one. I remember hearing the argument with car seat belts, that sometimes wearing the seat belt makes your injury worse. That's true. That probably is true for the brace also. This of course does is not enough logic not to wear your seat belt. You need to look at it in percentages.
If you took different car crashes and looked at the injuries if your wore a seat belt and if you did not, you would see that the seat belt saves people more often, even if in some remote case it causes worse injury. In the end, play the percentages. That's the only reason I got my Leatt, so it would work with my core saver. Ended up breaking C2, and my helmet came over and busted my left collar bone. Anyways, on the top of my helmet, there is a dent. Not a scratch, but a dent.
No marks on the top of my head, but on my CT scans at the hospital, there was a nice big black spot on my brain. Neuro doctor informed me that was a bruise my brain suffered due to impact with the top of my skull.
Yeah the guy will be in a wheel chair the rest of his life. I forgot to mention that he's also legally blind now as a result from the impact. How much worse could it get? He's 41 and he cant really do anything anymore. All his dirt bikes, quads, boats and his 2 airplanes have to be sold. It may have been a one in a million wreck but it still scares the crap out of me. With the pros riding without any protection at all this product will have a hard time to gain ground in the market.
I mean the trend is even going towards not even using gloves Yeah, this is getting so stupid. They barely use any safety gear besides a helmet. The cost is that when they crash they will just be off their bike a lot longer. Just compare safety now wit a couple of years ago. Then it was just as uncommon to find a racer without safety gear as it is now to find someone with safety gear. Scully85 May 18, at A friend of mine is in a Halo after breaking his C2, te friend who was with at the time went and bough a leatt on the way back from the hospital!
So what is your neck worth? Is it worth still being able to ride your bike, is worth being able to walk away on race day or training day after a really bad crash?
We need to adjust our priorities in this sport and get with the program, we have done this with bike technology, but we can't stop there. I feel this should manditory for all U18 racers.
If you start there and then by the time the youngest racers are in Elite they will all be wearing the brace and it will be standard equipment. No question. On that one mate. If you want to race, I think you should have one on. No brace? Already have my Leatt Club. It's awesome, comfortable, and unless it's like degrees out, you don't overheat while wearing it.
Great product, and I've already put it to the test riding Moto, and it saved my butt You point makes me think for sure
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