RyanHuber wrote:
I don't think any kind of H&N device would have helped him there.
It's impossible to know just how much of an improvement an H&N would have had. But I think it would have helped, certainly it would be better than nothing. A conventional H&N, like a HANS would certainly have done little or nothing. Because the tethers only tighten when the head moves forward, or to the side. When the head is pushed down, the tethers do nothing.
This is a quote from Leatt's website as something it protects against:
Axial loading: compression of the spinal column due to the effect of force on the helmet
In that sort of impact, the spine gets sandwitched in between your butt and your head. It's the force of your head/helmet pushing down that causes the injury. The Leatt brace spreads out the weight of your head, instead of pushing straight down onto the spine, it's spread onto a wider area.