Neck Injuries
Much of the enjoyment of motor sport is gained through pushing yourself and your vehicle to the limits. Back when the world was black and white and a little grainy, men in scarves and leather caps drove open topped cars as fast as they could go. Adventurous young men took motor bikes over moors and up banks and there is evidence to show that Motocross had its beginnings in Camberley, Surrey of all places. Back then, a lot of the onlookers and outsiders dismissed them as foolish, foolhardy even. But there was a satisfaction and pleasure taken from those hours racing their friends and pushing themselves. Did they focus on the safety aspect of what they were doing? Did they look to limit speeds to make it safer or add crash padding to any object that they may hit? On the contrary, most people did all they could to make their bikes go faster than every one else's.
Does the evolution of speed ever stop? I wonder whether we have reached a plateau or a ceiling to the pure, outright development of speed on a Motocross bike. When the tracks, riders and bikes were all in their infancy of development, the incidence and impact of injury was far outweighed by the rough and tumble fun and sense of satisfaction gained from simply completing a 'Scramble'. In our high definition, Neon coloured, corporate sponsored world of today things have moved a long way. A long way. The sport is world wide, big money and a way for people to pay their mortgage. Now, when there is an accident, on many occasions it is a big accident. There are a lot of places on a motocross track (and even more on a Super sized, American Super Cross track) where accidents are not just washing out, but big trouble over a big jump.
Injuries are not uncommon in Motorcycle events. The components that make up the sport are inherently risky, and due to this, when something goes wrong, the results are fairly serious. Broken bones are not uncommon and I think that many people reading this will have suffered some form of injury from a motorcycle accident. However, as with those before us, we haven't shied away from riding, but kept on pushing. We like the feeling of being on the edge, and the sport would not be the same if we were in a roll cage, had bumpers, or crash mats on every jump. If you didn't think that the pros outweighed the cons I'm sure you wouldn't swing a leg over a motorcycle.
Whilst broken bones are serious, we can (for the most part) recover fully from them and look to return to riding or racing in a matter of weeks or months, what we don't count on is an injury that affects us permanently - not just our ability to ride a bike, but that greatly alters our day to day lives.
Recently there have been some tragic injuries that have brought into focus the dangers of riding motocross bikes. The sight of a young man or woman in a wheel chair is also a stark reminder that things can go very wrong at some point.
These injuries may seem to be occurring more readily in recent years. This may be due to an increase in broadcasting of this news, an increase in people riding, or perhaps the tracks or bikes have something to do with it? I am not here to answer this question, and think that it is an area of debate, but regardless if there is something that can be done to reduce the incidence of serious injuries, it should be considered.
We, as a society, have taken some measures to aid personal protection in the form of solid, hard helmets, tough plastic boots and, er long sleeves, to protect us. Knee braces are also popular but in the grand scheme of things we are not a long way developed in protection, where as the bikes are a world away from what they used to be and the things one is expected to do on them is highly skilled. Is it not time to fully consider a form of protection to save us from the very worst of injuries, or might this just start a trend of trying to 'tame' the sport? Would this be a bad thing?
The most serious of injuries is damage to the neck or back - spinal injuries. These occur when a rider falls awkwardly at speed, lands head first causing the neck to bend un-naturally or is perhaps hit by the bike in the process of crashing.
The spine is a collection of 33 bones (known as vertebrae) that supports our body and gives us posture. It also envelopes and protects a bundle of nerve fibres known as the spinal cord. The spine is divided in to 3 regions - the Cervical (7 bones), Thoracic (12 bones) and Lumber (5 separate bones - the rest are fused). Damage to the spine will be labelled according to the vertebrae damaged (for example 'c-5' is injury to the 5th bith in the Cervical region). For a rider, hitting your head and more crucially bending the neck excessively due to the impact and nature of the crash is the most serious of injuries and can cause damage to not only the bones of the neck, but also the spinal cord that runs through them.
For us to initiate any action; breathing, lifting a cup of tea, running, twisting a throttle, going to the toilet - anything, our brain sends a nerve signal to that muscle group to perform the action. Now, all of these signals pass through the spinal cord before branching off towards the various regions of the body. This is where we can see the seriousness of any damage to the spinal cord. If the nerve impulse cannot pass un-interrupted on its journey, the muscle will not be able to contract and the action will not take place.
If damage occurs high on the spine - at the region of C1-2 vertebrae, many involuntary actions are affected such as breathing or the control of heart rate, and can be fatal. Damage to any of the Cervical vertebrae can result in full or partial quadriplegia (this is the thing same as 'tetraplegia') where all 4 limbs are partially or fully paralysed. Damage to the Thoracic or Lumbar vertebrae result in Paraplegia - paralysis of the legs and hips but the upper limbs and breathing functions are not usually affected. Depending on the area of damage, balance and posture in the sitting position may be affected.
As we can now see the neck is very vulnerable and the consequences of damaging it or any portion of the spine, are very serious.
It is due to the severity of injury possible that protecting the neck would help reduce paralysis. Essentially the brace forms a cradle on ones shoulders to minimise the movement of the helmet and head in extreme circumstances. It prevents hyper flexion and hyper extension (extreme bending of the neck forwards or backwards) as well as rocking side to side and compression of the head downwards. As you can imagine, being involved in a crash that causes these movements is not something anyone wants to dwell on, but along with a quality helmet to protect the impact of the head, a neck brace will help protect the neck in the same impact.
I am somewhat concerned that there is a certain morbid undertone to this article; serious injury is not something I ever like to talk about. I do however want to help educate as to the reasons why we see riders in wheel chairs and why products such as neck braces have been developed. I would love to see all riders adopt them and for the price to tumble. However I am not saying one must wear one - that is down to you and I do not think anyone should be guilt tripped into it, but fully informed and advised so they are fully aware in the decisions they make.
However, as we dig beyond all the gear, the bikes and the glamour that surrounds the sport, I do hope that the original ethos behind riding dirt bikes is not lost from all those years ago. Think back to those boys on Camberley common with their friends banging bars and trying to beat each other round the course with a smile from ear to ear. Whatever form of motorcycling you do, I hope it is done with as much fun.
