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FEATURE<br />
Julien Lieber: I prefer to be free. I used one when<br />
I was younger and you don’t have the same mobility.<br />
You see guys having the same accident or<br />
injury with and without the neck brace so it is not<br />
really clear if it helps or not. I have the same attitude<br />
to knee braces. I tried a few different brands<br />
but have still broken my ACL more than once. I<br />
question how much they help, and so now I go for<br />
more mobility.<br />
Adam Sterry: It’s like if you’ve never worn knee<br />
braces before. If you start riding with them then<br />
it will feel horrible. If I didn’t have the neck brace<br />
now I’d feel like a bobble head. It would be uncomfortable.<br />
After a couple of weeks with a brace<br />
it will be normal. People don’t give it enough<br />
time.<br />
Dr Dave McManus, FIM Medical Commission Director:<br />
The way the riders wear them is an important<br />
consideration in the discussion. At the moment<br />
of impact the device has to make contact<br />
with the riders helmet to transfer energy so if a<br />
rider does not wear it correctly [then it will be in<br />
ineffective]. Martin [FIM doctor Martin Syrucek]<br />
was wandering around a year or two ago with his<br />
camera at the starting gate and we could see that<br />
some riders wear the braces appropriately but<br />
the majority do not, so there would be no benefit<br />
in those case because the energy would have<br />
already been absorbed by the spine.<br />
Tim Gajser: I think it is safer to wear one. I’d say<br />
you have a bit less mobility for moving the head<br />
but since I started in 2010 with the 85 I immediately<br />
felt good with it. <strong>No</strong>w, if I forget it for some<br />
reason when I’m practicing it is weird to ride<br />
without it.<br />
Adam Sterry: People forget that the design is<br />
stress-related so you can almost snap it in your<br />
hands. When it reaches a certain point then it<br />
breaks. I’ve never had a problem with movement<br />
or weight and never noticed it. I’ll always wear<br />
one.<br />
BECOMING HURT?<br />
Pauls Jonass, Rockstar Energy Ice<strong>On</strong>e Husqvarna:<br />
I stopped using it because I hit my chin<br />
twice and opened it twice in two weeks! I think<br />
when it first showed up it was like a fashion<br />
thing and everyone wanted to try it. I think<br />
that’s the case for many things. I think it might<br />
come back. I know riders who have broken<br />
their collarbone and didn’t want it resting near<br />
the plate.<br />
Jorge Prado: For sure it is something that<br />
helps prevent one type of injury but might also<br />
cause another. It is a risk we take but then<br />
comfort has to come into it. There are positives<br />
and negatives.<br />
Jeremy Seewer: I’ve broken my collarbone<br />
only once! When I was on a 65 and I had a<br />
highside and landed on one of those big hammers<br />
they use to put in fence posts! I’ve never<br />
had any injury around the collarbone because<br />
of the brace but I also put some extra soft protection<br />
on that piece of bone.<br />
Darian Sanayei, Bike It DRT Kawasaki, MX2:<br />
A few times I’ve crashed and really crunched<br />
it. I’ve hit my head and then looked at the<br />
brace and thought ‘I’m glad I had that’. I’ve<br />
never had it put any pressure on my collarbone.<br />
Tim Gajser: I’ve broken vertebrae and a collarbone<br />
but I don’t think this was because of the<br />
brace. I had a massive crash in 2017 at Kegums<br />
when I fell on the waves and I honestly<br />
think it saved me because it was in four pieces<br />
and I went straight into the dirt with my head.<br />
It did its job.<br />
Pauls Jonass: If you do break your collarbone<br />
then maybe it was because it was really saving<br />
your neck. Maybe I will try again but right now<br />
I feel comfortable without it.
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