Pros that are still wearing neck braces?

Canard had one on in Japan.

Let's quit beating around the bush.....somebody post the "data" from the part time EMT at Chicken Licks raceway....

It would be interesting to see how many aren't wearing knee braces any more also

Thats the bigger question because its impossible to tell just by looking at a rider if theyre using knee braces or not. I wonder how many are vs arent these days.

Because you cant ride like this with a neck brace on. 

Lololololol. No one in this discussion rides like that. 

Personal preference. 

Gajser has 5 world titles. It's not holding him back from anything. 

I thought about this the last time newf was in on pulp show (he works for atlas right?). 

I was thinking how much of a hit this company has taken in the past 8 years. Its crazy to look back on photos from 2011-2014 there were a ton of people wearing these braces professionally and locally. Now there are essentially none. If I go to the track to ride and there are 50 riders there, i'd say maybe 5 people are wearing neck braces. Most of the people wearing them are also wearing old gear, so probably safe to assume these braces are also 5+ years old. 

Companies like Leatt have pivoted to making gear also. Astars obvs makes a bunch of other shit. I seriously wonder how many units Atlas is selling per year. It cannot be many. I would assume most are youth. 

But he might have won 10 titles if he wasn't wearing a neck brace?

Herein lies the problem with any piece of equipment and especially any form of protection. 

If someone crashes, hits their head and suffers a concussion. One person will say the helmet didn't do its job because they have a concussion and another person would say the helmet worked because they don't have brain damage. 

You're right, he sucked on a bike and never won while using a neck brace. Same with Canard, Dungey, Tomac, Anderson, Villopoto, Reed, Baggett, and Deegan. 

Coming back from collarbone injury

I don't understand the downvotes the OP got. It is a very important question. I don't know why it went south except from some rumors (and truthfully collarbones...) and for sure some big sponsorship money. The issue is the image we get is coming from elite competition = which means mobility and no weight, they almost go to war in PJs TBH. But that is not for everyone. Most week end warriors must be ok on Monday or once they are adults put their family first, that is a huge difference. I wish there were gear lines like in the 90s, protecting hands, heavy and everything, but avoiding bruises etc. 

I wish the "big" study made would have been more clear. There was some big flaws in the analysis but the raw numbers were really good. If the numbers were like that, I wish someone would just take it over and brings back this thing. I was an analyst, if a brand is interested to go back to the numbers, just hit me up, it would just take me a couple days. 

Chiz, Cartwright, Gajser, Geerts, Cedric Soubeyras 
 

I think that Villopoto guy won a few races wearing one.

Have there been any similar studies on knee braces? I’m genuinely interested to know. It is tricky to really get a 100% satisfactory answer because even though tons of ppl who blew out their knees over the years were wearing knee braces, theres no way to say if it would have been even worse without them. 

I didn't say you couldn't ride fast with a neck brace, I said you cant ride like most of the top guys are riding now. Hard to have your back flat and parallel to the ground and still see where you are going without being able to look up and see where you are going. 

I would also argue that a lot of the newer ones especially the tiny Atlas ones are so small they don't restrict you much at all but also provide even less questionable protection. If you love and want to wear neck braces thats fine I dont care but some of the pros have already said why they dont wear them and it has to do with restricting their riding position. 

this thread reminded me of that arm pump thingy (I can't remember it's name) that was around a few years back.  Supposedly cured arm pump, but i haven't heard anything about it in a while.

4Arm Strong. 

I have never seen something about knee braces. I believe in their efficiency, but no data.

In all cases, probably the best safety is:

- to stand up much more like Jett,

- to be fit to be well under the red zone and arm pump (or to do within the zone, not more),

- to have a bike dialed and maintained (with good jetting and with gas...), be careful with friend's bikes as some are turd,

- to think the first lap of any session or race (I saw and quite had a few big ones on first lap of the day, within 300 meters in the 1st practice... lol..... but painful. Too happy = full send. This is actually quite funny when you just go to practice and destroy a bike within 200 meters. People just look at you after spending 2 minutes on the ground like they wonder if you know how to ride and are shocked you are still alive after being catapulted from a kicker, a rut or a rock, ah again a noob),

- to avoid the last session/lap of the day (when you want to hall and show you are Tomac, you are tired, and the track is rough, great combo),

- and not go for jumps/tracks that are sketchy (huge jumps, 100 degrees, dry ruts, and you have a few local practice champs or friends teasing you, etc etc)

Easier said than done as when anyone put a helmet on the undestanding is different Most of it is on us but the environment and gear help ... or not.

People stopped wearing them because of Ryan Hughes. 

Pretty sure a orthopedic surgeon on thumpertalk had put together some data on knee braces. Forget the outcome but he had a pretty good data pool.

For knee braces:

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/8/5186

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21297006/

Knee braces were the only thing holding Villos knees together and he did fine, and with a neck brace

Maybe helmet technology has moved to the point in which neck braces are no longer needed and are therfore too restricting? Just an idea.

Awesome thank you!

What new helmet technology would make you think there is less of a chance to fracture your c-spine these days?  
A freestyler doing backflips in France wore one this weekend; someone who needs to extend his c-spine to spot the landing. Oh yeah, and he was doing double backflips too.  Some find them restricting, some don’t.
It doesn’t make sense for a vital keyboard warrior to say, “ People aren’t wearing them, because you can’t go fast with them”…..that’s been proven wrong over and over at local and national tracks throughout the world. 
if you think they are restricting, fracture clavicles, or you are more afraid it will cause traction injuries to the spine on the ipsilateral side of impact rather than a compression injury on the contra side….don’t wear one.