neck roll brace.

[firko]

Having been out of the competitive side of the sport for a few years, I'm now investing in new safety gear. I've got almost everything but a neck brace and as I've never worn one I'm a bit confused as to what I need. I've looked at and tried on EVS and Leatt braces but like the feel and price of the Alpine Star neck roll style brace as shown below. Are these type of braces any good? I don't give a fluck about being cool with the latest stuff, the same as what the pro's wear, I just want to be safe and comfortable.

In forty years of racing I've only ever used body armour a few times (hated it), a vintage JT setup from the mid 90's in hot pink I passed on to Brad Van B. In fact I never wore gloves until it became mandatory and only went to a full face helmet for the first time in the mid 90's when I got a new AXO that'd fallen off a truck, which I still own. I'm one of those crusty old old dinosaurs who considered all of that safety stuff a bit of a wank but times have changed, I'm almost 62 years old, lightyears away from the fitness I enjoyed in my rugby/racing days and I'm now a bit better educated on personal safety. One thing I have used is knee braces on my dicky knees....damn, I even use one for walking sometimes.
                                                                                   

[Tony T]

I've got no good advice on this one, but will be interested to hear the words of wisdom from you lot out there as well.

I've never worn armour either (you'd think 7 hours strapped to a spinal board waiting for "the news" would have changed that.....  ) 

I'm getting older and would like to continue to do so......... 

[bigk]

I wear a simple horse collar type brace (as photo) as I don't like the impact transfer the others give, just my personal preference. I can say that it has saved me from some serious neck damage in a huge high speed crash a few years back. In fact I honestly doubt I'd be here to tell the tale or at best be walking without it. It's simple, cheap & effective. Feels a little strange the first time you wear one for about five minutes, after that no problems. Certainly way better than nothing at all.
K

[mainline]

I've got a Leatt brace. They're cheap as chips now and if you spend 10 minutes setting them up you won't know you're wearing it they're that comfortable.

[vmxrider]

I'd guess the neck roll type wont give the same protection as a full neck brace, but you'd probably be more inclined to throw it on for those quick rides. I wear an EVS brace and its a bit fiddly and restrictive especially with non compatible body armour.
Neck protection has been around for a while

[Gippslander]

In the late 60's early 70's it was a Cromwell, cheap plastic goggles (nicked from work), borrowed leather pants, work boots and a windcheater, never had a problem and I did fall off lots, now at almost 60 I recently took a fall that f@#$ed my shoulder (luck and a gifted surgeon fixed it good), now it's the hamburger with the lot, knee braces (best things ever, ride all day, knees do not even know I've been out of bed, and I cant walk 200 m without pain) full body armour like the enduro riders wear, and a leatt neck brace adjusted up so High I can hardly get a finger between it and the helmet, and the only problem is that I cannot put a jersey on over all that without help so I got a zipper put right up the front of one so now I can dresss myself and the neck band of the jersey holds the brace down firm, easy with the zipper, and when riding I know I look a bit silly but it is no problem at all not even half a lap and you do not know the gear is there, so for me a Leatt brace is easy.
I had an Alpine Star brace but it would not adjust as well as the Leatt.

[firko]

Because I've got chronic knee issues I've use an EVS 5 on my left knee and a Mueller on my right for a few years. I hated the flucking things at first but now I'm used to it I can ride my trials bike for hours standing up yet, like Gippslander, I have a lot of pain while walking.

[yungy]

Each to there own but I had worn an alpinestar neck brace  for a couple of years thinkin it was good protection but i won't wear one now because I have found they do more damage than good. In crashes even small ones your head seems to slam the ground twice as hard I have mates brake collarbones because of the brace & worse vertebrae from the back piece digging in & they were also to blame for the late Andrew mcfarlens passing. I think in some cases they might help but I feel your neck will bend to a certain point & I feel the neckbrace limits this

[Gippslander]

Interesting to listen to this fella...

http://motocross.transworld.net/1000122170/videos/catching-up-with-cornell-dejongh-of-leatt-brace/

[bigk]

Exactly my point Yungy. The modern braces transfer the impact to other parts of your body. I've seen a few severed spinal cords right at the point of impact transfer, which is way too much of a coincedence for me. Just my observation & each to thir own. Don't ride without my horse collar though.
K

[Tony T]

The modern braces transfer the impact to other parts of your body. I've seen a few severed spinal cords right at the point of impact transfer, which is way too much of a coincedence for me.

I've got no first hand experience with these things at all, but I've also heard stories about injuries caused by them. I've also heard the theories about helmets being the cause of some injuries too.

That said, you don't see too many in the Dakar Rallye riding without one and I figure that if you're doing that for a living, you'd want the best overall protection you could get and have done the research to back it up.
Unless, you're getting paid by the neck brace company........... 

I think if were to go back to that sort of racing, I'd probably go with one of the neck braces that everyone else uses.......... 
And for my riding these days, one those Alpine Stars things looks like a good comprimise.

[Montynut]

The broken collar bone one is interesting as I’ve heard this one dozens of times. The designer makes the point that >90% of collar bone injuries they have looked at are broken out which is the normal mode of collar bone fracture. If an impact from the brace broke the collar bone then you would expect it to be a break inwards from a direct blow to the collar bone when most broken collar bones come from impact to the shoulder itself not the collar bone.

The brace does not stop your head suddenly it works like seat belts, helmet or air bags to slow the head as it reaches hyper extension. The vertebrae injury is another one that is difficult to believe because simply looking at the geometry of the brace tells you that to generate enough force at the tip of the spine extension to damage your spine would require an impact that would shatter your helmet and most likely your skull.

I wear a Leatt brace because I don’t believe the donut style do anything at all as they move around and cannot possibly prevent serious injury. I can remember when they introduced seat belts and helmets then for years stories circulated that they caused more damage than good and we would all be trapped in burning cars etc.

The braces do take some getting used to and need to be fiddled with to get the adjustment right but I am going on 55 and don’t find I bounce as well as I once did and would like to have the best chance of seeing out my days as healthy as I can. That is the first time I have heard any reference that the sad passing of Andrew McFarlane was linked to a neck brace.

[mainline]

The vertebrae injury is another one that is difficult to believe because simply looking at the geometry of the brace tells you that to generate enough force at the tip of the spine extension to damage your spine would require an impact that would shatter your helmet and most likely your skull.

A point the engineer in the video link goes over as well. The extension at the back of the brace is designed to fracture well before it's done any damage to the spine. Plus, he points out that when there is spinal damage inflicted during a riding accident it's almost always in this area of the spine, whether you're wearing a brace or not.

[EML]

I think what Monty said has a lot to do with it....I'm older and don't fall as well as I used to.....
So much of the damage is from the impact and we all have to take measures to soften the blow.
So a lot of what we do must be flexing and keeping supple and looking at what to do when we do crash, not just letting nature take over and going into 'free fall'.
When passengers fly off they need to work out where they will land and how they will impact. Tuck and roll is best.

[TeeBone]

Our collar bones are nothing more than "fusible links" in our skeletal system ie: they're designed to fail when an excess load is applied to them. They triangulate the joint making it stronger. Leatt, Alpine Stars, EVS braces are designed to not interfere with the loading on the collar bone, which in 99% is broken from the rider putting their arms out to fall, the remaining 1% comes into the "sh!t happens" category. The human body hasn't evolved beyond moving faster than around 40 km/h (running speed), so we still have these shortcomings in our skeletal system. That said, the collar bone does everything it should and is one of our closest ties to our ancestors as only the ape family and ourselves have them!

A horse collar foam type is not much more than a placebo - if it works for your mind, you'll feel better about it all.