Assessment of the protective performance of neck braces for motorcycle riders: a finite-element study

Abstract

Neck protective devices for motorcyclists have been introduced fairly recently but there is no standard method to evaluate their performance. The goal of this study is to compare the response of riders' necks to direct impacts on the helmet with and without such a device. We investigate three common types of cervical injury mechanisms i.e. hyperflexion, hyperextension and lateral bending using FEM. The rotational movement of the head with respect to the torso, the neck shearing and axial loads and the stress distribution throughout the cervical vertebrae show that using the investigated type of neck protective device, which is designed to restrain the head-neck motion, can in some cases increase the risk of neck injury. Hence, the design of such devices needs further study and their assessment requires the introduction of relevant standards of evaluation.

Neck Braces and Driving Posture Affect Neck Mobility on Powered Two-Wheelers

“…These devices are designed to reduce the vulnerability of the cervical spine by reducing the range of motion of the head/neck, and keeping it under physiological limits; they also distribute the impact energy on the shoulders [20]. The performance of these devices was recently investigated in [21,22]. These studies showed uncertainties regarding their protection effectiveness, thus confirming the need to develop a normalized evaluation procedure for such devices.…”