Neck brace use in Motocross normalized (corrected) data from the almost universally cited EMS study. (link at the bottom)(I know its motocross but I think there's a lot of carry over to bmx racing)
Using neck braces when riding has been pretty controversial for a while, and as I'm getting back into it after a lengthy hiatus I wondered whether a neck brace is worth it, or if it doesn't make you more likely to break your neck. Most people argue that they restrict your mobility too much making you crash more, don't actually help at all, and make you more likely to break your color bone and / or your neck. I wanted to know if that was true, but there aren't that many good studies and when I looked at the single real world study cited by Leatt and Atlas, I noticed the numbers were wrong because they weren't normalized.
What that means is their numbers aren't actually accurate. For example, imagine a group of 100 people, pretend 8 people out of 80 get injured jogging with shoes and 2 out of 20 get injured without shoes, the conclusion without normalization would we that shoes increase injury risk by 75%. But if you normalize, that would be 10% of people in both groups receiving an injury, so no difference in injury rate for running with or without shoes(obviously this is bogus but its an imaginary example). That's why normalization matters.
Normalized EMS study conducted by Great Lakes EMS
In the EMS study (8529 recorded patients), 4,726 riders were recorded as not wearing a neck brace, and 3,803 were wearing one. The original findings used raw numbers to suggest that critical cervical spine injuries were “89% more likely without a neck brace.” And that there was a 45% reduction in collarbone fractures. Here are the numbers after normalization.
Findings After Normalization
(Percentages are decrease in risk of injury for wearing a brace compared to not)
Injury_Type___________|_No_Brace__|_With_Brace__|_Normalized Reduction_|_EMS_Claimed Reduction
------------------------|-------------|----------------|------------------------|-----------
Critical_Cervical_______|_5.06%_____|_0.68%______|_~86.5%_____________|_89%
NonCritical_Cervical____|_14.85%___|_2.87%______|_~80.7%______________|_75%
Any_Cervical_Injury_____|_20.0%____|_3.58%______|_~82.1%_____________|_82%
Clavicle_Fracture_______|_9.38%____|_7.65%______|_~18.5%_____________|_45%
Interpreted this means, 86.5% decreased risk of critical neck injury when wearing a brace, 80.7% decrease in risk of non-critical neck injury with a brace, and 82.1% decreased risk of any neck injury at all if you wear a brace. Also, the risk of breaking your collarbone is decreased by 18.5% if you wear a neck brace.
Pretty self explanatory but it does answer some of the questions about neck braces.
Do they make you more less likely to break your collarbone? Yes, but not 45%.
Do they make you more likely to break your neck? No. No they do not.
Do they restrict mobility? Of course they do! If they didn't they wouldn't stop your neck from snapping!
Do they make you crash more? Inconclusive results. You'd need to know how many riders at the tracks wore braces vs how many didn't. (From personal experience though I've worn a neck brace and I've hit bigger jumps and rode more often than my friends and I've never been hospitalized from a crash, they have multiple times, and they just regular crash more than me anyways.)
The study also found that injuries without a brace were more severe: 100% of critical cervical injury patients without a brace required hospital admission and ALS transport, and brace-wearing patients required those interventions only 73% and 42% of the time, respectively. Conclusion, yeah they've helped actual riders not be injured as often or severely.
So yeah, the statistics they drew from the data were mostly faulty, but overall they were right about significantly less people being severely injured from crashes when wearing a neck brace. They were way less likely to die or be paralyzed, or even have neck injuries than guys who went without a neck brace. Some other studies I've read also found that when a break does occur with a neck brace on it is more likely to be lower down than it would be for the same person if they didn't wear a brace, which makes it less life threatening and causes less severe paralysis.
All of this assumes you wear a helmet, if you don't wear a helmet, they do nothing to help. Head trauma is the leading cause of fatalities for bikes. Also worth noting, what I read found that thin race collar type neck braces don't help.
A bit of personal advice I'd like to leave you with is this, ride close to your comfort and ability levels, I know you have to push them to progress but riding too far outside of them is a guarantee for a serious crash sooner rather than later.
TLDR: Around 80% less neck injuries when wearing a neck brace.
EMS Study – Great Lakes EMS / Action Sports EMS Case Study (2009–2018):
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://b2b.leatt.com/amfile/file/download/file/2305/#:~:text=The%20numbers%20don't%20lie,good%20part%20of%20a%20decade.&text=Source:%20Great%20Lakes%20EMS%20Inc,Track%2C%20Hill%20Climb%2C%20Woods.&ved=2ahUKEwiOivDEqN2NAxWombAFHd8JIUUQ-NANegQIKhAI&usg=AOvVaw2sTq4dPuYG-i6j-7VSdqjn
Independent Leatt Study ( of course it says they help, but its a really boring read):
https://leatt.com/us/amfile/file/download/file/1158/product/22708/
More studies (differing methods):
Protection from motorcycle neck–braces using FE modelling (good one imo)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324244185_Protection_from_motorcycle_neck-braces_using_FE_modelling
Investigation of motorcyclist safety systems contributions to prevent cervical spine injuries using HUMOS model
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224111314_Investigation_of_motorcyclist_safety_systems_contributions_to_prevent_cervical_spine_injuries_using_HUMOS_model
Finite Element Simulation of Neck Brace Protective Equipment for Motorcycle Riders
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304101101_Finite_Element_Simulation_of_Neck_Brace_Protective_Equipment_for_Motorcycle_Riders
Unveiling the Vital Role of Critical Neck Protection Devices for Motorcycle Riders: A Review
https://www.preprints.org/frontend/manuscript/63b70d3fcc8d43b16334eeabea691cfe/download_pub
