Since a catastrophic neck injury has led to some serious debate here maybe discussing something that could potentially prevent it makes sense. My biggest fear in DH is ending up paralyzed - much more afraid of that than death actually. I did some research a couple of years ago to see what might be available from a prevention standpoint. I ended up buying one of these: http://www.evs-bmx.com/product_details.asp?ProductID=116&ProductSubcatID=24. This is the second generation product, the first one was much more bulky, but I used it for the 2003 season and I didn't really notice that I was wearing it after a while. The one linked to above is much more streamlined (and can be trimmed to provide a more custom fit). I used it throughout the 2004 season and really liked it. It does something similar to what the football neck rolls do for football players, with the added benefit of protecting your collar bone and neck when your head rolls too far forward, which is the leading cause of cervical spine injuries - head rolls forward, it straightens the natural curvature of your neck, an impact to the top of the head sends an axial load directly to your cervical vertebrae and breaks it. This is why "spearing" is no longer allowed in high school and college football, where the tackler drops his head to hit someone. His head comes to a complete stop upon impact, the cervical vertebrae are straightened and the momentum of the rest of his body puts too much axial/compression load on the neck. With the neck in the more naturally curved postion this same impact would be deflected from the neck in the form of ones head tilting back or to one side.
I've searched and can't find any product, including the above, for which claims are made that it can prevent cervical spine injuries (the football neck rolls only claim to prevent "stingers," a much different neck injury). Not sure if this if for liability reasons, but based on my understanding of how upper spine injuries occur (axial load on a straightened neck) this product seems to make all the sense in the world - it helps keep your head somewhat stabilized and would help prevent a dramatic compression of the neck by distributing the forces of compression into your shoulders and torso.
For $40, and maybe a little discomfort until you become accustom to wearing such a thing, it seems to make a ton of sense. Anyone else use one, or are there any orthopedic types that can chime in?
I've searched and can't find any product, including the above, for which claims are made that it can prevent cervical spine injuries (the football neck rolls only claim to prevent "stingers," a much different neck injury). Not sure if this if for liability reasons, but based on my understanding of how upper spine injuries occur (axial load on a straightened neck) this product seems to make all the sense in the world - it helps keep your head somewhat stabilized and would help prevent a dramatic compression of the neck by distributing the forces of compression into your shoulders and torso.
For $40, and maybe a little discomfort until you become accustom to wearing such a thing, it seems to make a ton of sense. Anyone else use one, or are there any orthopedic types that can chime in?
