Hey Ridemonkey,
My name's Harry, and I went full retard recently on my downhill bike and broke my neck. The method of injury was hyperflexion, which lead to an avulsion fracture of a transverse process of my C7 vertebrae. In plain english, my chin went so far into my chest that the muscle pulled a piece of one of my vertebrae off. I am happier than you can imagine that I'm not writing this from a wheelchair, and that my recovery only consists of wearing a foam brace for 6 weeks and some basic physio to get my neck moving properly after that.
My time off work whilst I recover has definitely given me time to reflect on the very real risk of this type of injury in our sport, and the ways we can possibly reduce it. I've spent some time looking at Leatt neck braces and their methodology and research has appealed to me, particularly as I have a degree in Physics and I'm a design engineer by trade. Having said that, the lack of independent verification concerns me, not to mention the hearsay from some riders (both MX and downhill) claiming that neck braces have caused other injury, or even perhaps caused a spinal injury through limiting natural movement of the neck.
What I'm interested in hearing from this particular corner of the internet is experiences with spinal injuries with or without neck protection. Was there any professional medical opinion on neck braces at the time?
I'm also interested to hear what other people's research has brought up, in particular if there has been any research done by professional bodies in MX or (less likely) downhill.
I can't be the only person interested in the answers, particularly after such an eventful world champs race with Mr Hill breaking his neck brace in a savage over the bars crash!
My name's Harry, and I went full retard recently on my downhill bike and broke my neck. The method of injury was hyperflexion, which lead to an avulsion fracture of a transverse process of my C7 vertebrae. In plain english, my chin went so far into my chest that the muscle pulled a piece of one of my vertebrae off. I am happier than you can imagine that I'm not writing this from a wheelchair, and that my recovery only consists of wearing a foam brace for 6 weeks and some basic physio to get my neck moving properly after that.
My time off work whilst I recover has definitely given me time to reflect on the very real risk of this type of injury in our sport, and the ways we can possibly reduce it. I've spent some time looking at Leatt neck braces and their methodology and research has appealed to me, particularly as I have a degree in Physics and I'm a design engineer by trade. Having said that, the lack of independent verification concerns me, not to mention the hearsay from some riders (both MX and downhill) claiming that neck braces have caused other injury, or even perhaps caused a spinal injury through limiting natural movement of the neck.
What I'm interested in hearing from this particular corner of the internet is experiences with spinal injuries with or without neck protection. Was there any professional medical opinion on neck braces at the time?
I'm also interested to hear what other people's research has brought up, in particular if there has been any research done by professional bodies in MX or (less likely) downhill.
I can't be the only person interested in the answers, particularly after such an eventful world champs race with Mr Hill breaking his neck brace in a savage over the bars crash!