I have used a neck brace with an open-face helmet, and a HANS with a closed
face. Also before the HANS was developed (1991) I used a neck brace with a
full face. With my open-face helmet the brace does limit side-side and
back motions, and would prevent my chin from hitting my chest. I have no
medical training, BUT from what I've read in a severe forward crash a neck
brace would be of limited value in protecting the neck, regardless of
helmet. That is why the HANS and other similar systems were developed. I
would not do any track competition again without a HANS
(http://www.hansdevice.com/).
I use no brace for autocross, and see no need to use one.
Dave
At 07:04 PM 2/10/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>Okay, so I have gotten a whole bunch of opinions from people, most of which
>have never used a neck brace nor have any medical training. What I haven't
>gotten is an answer to my question about whether or not using the brace with
>an open face is a bad thing
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