Why did you stop wearing a neckbrace?

450
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450 9/26/2018 9:58am
9/26/2018 9:58am
I purchased a Leatt as soon as they came out. Six months of wearing it and I felt used to it. Then a crash, a couple compressed vertebrae directly below where the piece extended down my back. At that time I was thankful that it saved me. Forward a handful of years later and another crash while wearing a newer model Leatt and 5 compressed vertebrae again directly below that back piece. Now I wonder since limiting the movement of part of your neck and back if it’s putting more impact to the areas below it. I may try an Atlas in the future but even when I was wearing braces I noticed I rode much better and smoother when I didn’t put it on.
xr70
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xr70 9/26/2018 10:07am
9/26/2018 10:07am
I purchased Leatt way back and I only wear it one time and hated it. When the Atlas come out I got one like one year down the road and never look back. Shortly after that I had big crash in milestone when I was throw backwards on my head.I walk away with no injury . When I inspected my neck brace I see all the black marks from my helmet on the brace. I was glad I had the neck brace on , definitely saved me from injury.

TogaSet
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TogaSet 9/26/2018 10:34am
9/26/2018 10:34am
You know what really restricts your mobility ? A wheelchair. The atlas didn’t seem to bother poto from winning a zillion titles.
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seth505
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seth505 9/26/2018 10:37am
9/26/2018 10:37am
cody41 wrote:
I had a head on crash with someone because I could not look up enough. Have not worn it since and have no plans on ever...
I had a head on crash with someone because I could not look up enough. Have not worn it since and have no plans on ever buying a neck brace
Why were you even riding if you couldn't look up?

To answer the OP, I wear an Atlas brace and I can ride normally and also roll on the ground without dying.
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HusqFan3
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HusqFan3 9/26/2018 10:42am
9/26/2018 10:42am
Fearo wrote:
This conversation again.. I like to think I am a mellow, non-judgemental person, but there's something about the ignorance and broscience about the "dangers" of neck...
This conversation again..

I like to think I am a mellow, non-judgemental person, but there's something about the ignorance and broscience about the "dangers" of neck braces that really lights a fuse.

To start off, if a neck brace prevents your mobility, it's because you haven't adjusted it properly. Unless I'm looking up at the stars or looking down at my giant balls, there is no chance in hell I'm feeling my neck brace. Have never noticed it in 10+ years of wearing it.

Secondly, the part that sits on your back can never ever cause a back injury if your brace is adjusted properly. The forces needed to break the brace are far smaller than the forces need to break your back. Can you break your back while wearing your brace? Of course, but the brace did not cause it, and potentially avoided greater injury. Not even the first generation leatt (that ran straight over the spine) was a bad design. The leatt guys spent years trying to tell people the back part would break first every time, with data to back up their claims, but finally changed their design, probably under pressure from their competition.

Thirdly, the "independant testing" bullshit. Neck braces have been around for about 10 years.. Leatt and Atlas have been screaming for those 10 years for someone, anyone to do independant testing, but nobody has done it on a large scale and it will likely never happen. Why? Because what's the incentive, that's why. Who would benefit from this other than the brace manufacturers? The riders yes, but if anyone reallllyyy had the riders safety at heart, neck brace testing would have been done a long time ago by the FIM or AMA. Does this automatically mean that neck braces don't work or are dangerous? No.

Fourthly, the tuck and roll nonsense. If right before you are about to eat shit on your dirtbike, you have the mental and physical reflexes to think "tuck and roll", then you are one Bruce Lee type motherfucker. Teach me your ways, master.
Game. Set. Match.
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Bry145
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Bry145 9/26/2018 12:43pm
9/26/2018 12:43pm
I find it easier to ride correctly without the brace on. There is a correct way to ride a dirt bike. I find it easier to get closer to correct without the Leatt.

Getting hurt is a risk I'm willing to take. There is risk in everything.



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Moto96
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Moto96 9/26/2018 4:48pm
9/26/2018 4:48pm
HusqFan 3 wrote:

Fourthly, the tuck and roll nonsense. If right before you are about to eat shit on your dirtbike, you have the mental and physical reflexes to think "tuck and roll", then you are one Bruce Lee type motherfucker. Teach me your ways, master.

Football players. If they have that ball, they aren't letting it go and get hit from all kinds of angles or someone they don't even see and land on their head. The rest of what you said I pretty much agree, but a stronger neck is better than a brace, which Again, football. They use their head as a battering ram too.




rjs
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rjs 9/28/2018 8:11am
9/28/2018 8:11am
Seems like Atlas is the popular choice for comfort, mobility, weight, and performance!
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Bultaco 9/28/2018 8:33am
9/28/2018 8:33am
KG171 wrote:
Put on your gear without the brace and roll over the ground, then put on your brace and try it again. It just wont work. Especially...
Put on your gear without the brace and roll over the ground, then put on your brace and try it again. It just wont work. Especially when you have a crash on high speed you need to be able to roll. When you crash with a neckbrace on your stiff like a block of concrete, causing all the energy of the crash to go into your body right away. I honestly believe that this causes more injuries then it prevents.
I had a Leatt. Augered in to the ground once DH mountain biking. Pretty simple crash in a corner. Ended up with a LOC concussion. I obviously don't remember the details of the fall.

I've been riding/racing dirt bikes and bicycles for more than 50 years, and falling off of them equally as long so have some experience. Most of the contact I've made with ground in those years has been uneventful. I've often wondered if I was born with a "roll with the punches" lucky gene as i've been relatively unscathed. In trying to figure out what happened this time, I wonder if the brace held my head/helmet in place that my body could not flex around the fall. So all the energy was directed into my head?

Obviously I'll never know. But this is my gut feeling about it. I agree with KG171. I don't wear a brace anymore.
Motofinne
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Motofinne 9/28/2018 8:44am
9/28/2018 8:44am
I would like to try the latest Atlas brace. But I'm not prepared to put over 300€ on a product that might not fit me.
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aroark247
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aroark247 9/28/2018 9:40am
9/28/2018 9:40am
I stopped because I believe they do work for their intended purpose, but they can lead to far more severe brain injuries. My orthopedic surgeon told me, that with any brace (knee, neck, wrist) they do their job, but that energy isn't avoided, it's just moved to somewhere else on the body.

Your neck flexes naturally to dissipate some force when you hit the ground. With a neck brace you limit your neck's mobility to flex, therefore causing a higher concentrated impact to your head

Someday in the future I do believe the helmets and neck braces will compliment each other but not as of yet.
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mattyhamz2
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mattyhamz2 9/28/2018 9:48am
9/28/2018 9:48am
aroark247 wrote:
I stopped because I believe they do work for their intended purpose, but they can lead to far more severe brain injuries. My orthopedic surgeon told...
I stopped because I believe they do work for their intended purpose, but they can lead to far more severe brain injuries. My orthopedic surgeon told me, that with any brace (knee, neck, wrist) they do their job, but that energy isn't avoided, it's just moved to somewhere else on the body.

Your neck flexes naturally to dissipate some force when you hit the ground. With a neck brace you limit your neck's mobility to flex, therefore causing a higher concentrated impact to your head

Someday in the future I do believe the helmets and neck braces will compliment each other but not as of yet.
Kinda like knee braces...save your knees, but see many break femurs or tibs/fibs.

Something has to give.
peelout
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peelout 9/28/2018 9:53am
9/28/2018 9:53am
i stopped wearing one after a 3 hour desert race in the mud and slop. my neck and shoulders hurt for a couple weeks from the strain of trying to look up far enough without my helmet hitting my brace. i threw that fucker in the trash and never looked back.
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Mr. Info
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Mr. Info 9/28/2018 12:32pm
9/28/2018 12:32pm Edited Date/Time 9/28/2018 5:12pm
Let me tell you a few reasons why. One is my neck is short and I’m 62 and fallen many times.
Two is I know someone who is a very well known trama surgeon at a World Wide Known Hospital and also done studies on neck trama and he stated that 2 people can fall the same way and one might have neck trama and the other none.
And the third is an off road racer that suffered the worst injury from a crash and that was caused by his neck brace.
The forth is a friend of mine named Jim Masters who always wore whatever needed to protect himself including a Leatt neck brace. Jim fell over in a slow turn and was struck or runs over suffering devastating injuries to C 1 and C 2. Jim survived his injuries but felt a life of laying in bed on a respirator to breath and cannot speak, feed, shower or even use a restroom was not living or surviving so he had them help him end his life.
Hard for me to see a benefit from those people I know and knew. But that’s for me you make your own choice. God Bless everyone
Motofinne
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Motofinne 9/28/2018 12:42pm
9/28/2018 12:42pm
The thing i like with the Atlas design is the low profile and especially the flexibility of the frame. Too bad that no one that i know has one in my size so i could try it. I've used the first gen Leatt and Alpinestars braces, none of them fitted me properly.
mark_swart
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mark_swart 9/28/2018 2:54pm
9/28/2018 2:54pm
Limitied range of motion made it hard to see where I was going in tight turns, and also I was in Hawaii and the thing was just unbearably hot. I also broke my collarbone while wearing it, but I cant prove if it was the causs or not.
Kx125rider 9/29/2018 10:15am
9/29/2018 10:15am
Anyone have links to research on how a brace can lead to brain injury?

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