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Equipment
The Leatt-Brace Story For the greater good of safety for sporting mankind.
Dr. Chris Leatt chats about the epic Leatt¨ story right from the start line.
With so much personal passion and determination injected into his sporting vision for safety and survival,
mankind has been given a new father watching over us on the track.
Words: Antony Lyon (ADB Mag)
Q: Why did you develop the brace?
Dr. Leatt: When the brace project started about six years ago, I was a doctor doing trauma surgery.
I had been riding motorcycles since the age of 16 and racing SuperSport bikes competitively on short tar
circuits as well as a bit of off-road to keep fit. Then one day, at an enduro event, a rider fell off his bike at
a relatively low speed. Unfortunately he didn‘t survive as he‘d broken his neck. I thought to myself, ÒThis
is ludicrous he‘s got protection from head to foot but nobody seems to be concentrating on the neckÓ.
And that‘s where the idea of developing neck protection started. Initially, I just fiddled with cardboard
models until my son expressed an interest in riding. Added to that, the following year a colleague of mine
also broke his neck and died. So for me, the project began with a lot of personal involvement.
Q: Tell us about the research and development process?
Dr. Leatt: My first challenge was to do the exhaustive research into the mechanisms of neck injury,
particularly those caused by motorcycles, and then try to develop a product that would counter the forces
involved. In the beginning there was very little practical development; just a lot of reading and discussion
with biomechanical engineers, spinal surgeons and others. Eventually, we discovered that we had to
create an alternative load path to move forces safely away from the neck. It was then that the design of
the product really started. From the start it was really just about trying to solve the problem. Our passion
really is about saving lives and saving necks; that was always the most important thing.
made for adventure
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