Q-Collar: Helps Protect Athletes From Brain Injury | Q30 (2024)

FAQs

Q-Collar: Helps Protect Athletes From Brain Injury | Q30? ›

The Q-Collar

Because the brain floats inside the skull, it moves – sometimes with great force – when the head is exposed to an impact. By applying light pressure to the sides of the neck, the Q-Collar increases blood volume in the brain's venous structures, reducing the harmful internal movement that causes brain injury.

Helmets and Other Headgear. Helmets are designed to mitigate the likelihood of head injuries from an impact to the head by dissipating and distributing the energy of impact and protecting the head from penetration.

This small neck collar gently compresses the muscles that surround the veins that drain blood from the head. Researchers have shown that the Q-Collar reduces the cumulative impact of head injuries over time, but the mechanism underlying this protective effect remained uncertain.

Contact sports and concussions know this. As blows accumulate, CTE develops. The Q-Collar applies “light pressure to the sides of the neck” and “increases blood volume in the brain's venous structures” to cushion the brain.

According to research, in a single season of play, athletes who were not wearing a Q-Collar were 3x more likely to have significant changes in their brain tissue. of athletes not wearing a Q-Collar showed significant changes in brain tissue after a season of play versus 27% of those who were wearing a Q-Collar.

Over the past five years, the NFL has also used data from game video and sensors from gear like mouth guards to improve helmets and protect players from head injuries and the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

What is the science behind the Q-Collar? ›

Externally worn, the lightweight, horseshoe-shaped Q-Collar seeks to reduce the brain's movement. With the collar in place around the lower portion of the neck, it's snug and lightly compresses internal jugular veins. This pressure slightly increases the blood volume in the skull's blood vessels.

Called Q-Collar and costing $199, the device restricts the flow of blood from the head, and, if science touted by the company is accepted, gives the brain an extra layer of cushioning. “I can't think of anything we can do that is so simple but also so important,” Dr.

While a helmet protects the skull from the outside, the Q-Collar gives an added layer of protection on the inside by limiting brain movement.

The brain is protected by the bones of the skull and by a covering of three thin membranes called meninges. The brain is also cushioned and protected by cerebrospinal fluid.

Research has shown that athletes with higher neck strength demonstrate a lower magnitude of head impacts across various sports. Studies that have incorporated neck exercises as an intervention strategy have reported lower potential concussions or concussive events.

“An upward blow to the head through the mandible,” should have more difficulty radiating to the skull if there is a space between the mandible and skull. Though this theory makes sense, in studies thus far, mouthguards have not been shown to reduce the incidence of concussion.

Mainstream headwear doesn't protect the brain

Helmets are designed to protect the skull, not the brain. While a helmet effectively protects the skull from fractures, the brain instead receives the full force of the impact, resulting in concussion and sub-concussions.