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 finite-element method. 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.

Keywords:

• Neck brace
• cervical injury
• passive safety
• PPE
• FEM

Acknowledgement

The authors thank Prof. Mirco Zaccariotto for his kind assistance in the experimental tests that were carried out for the validation of the neck brace FE model.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the People Programme (Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 [grant number FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN-608092].