Spinal cord injuries from mountain biking exceed hockey, other high-risk sports

Re:Spinal cord injuries from mountain biking exceed hockey, ... by diggan on Wednesday January 08, 2025 @07:58AM (#42633702)

Aren't there materials out there that can change from "fluid" to "solid" based on electrical signals? Or maybe something like Oobleck instead. Then you could have some sort of spine-protector, that outlines/protects your back and is flexible by default, but if it can tell you're falling through the air somehow/rotating around, it starts being inflexible to protect the structure of your back.

I dunno, just brainstorming and have no experience building protective wear/devices.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Spinal cord injuries from mountain biking exceed hockey, ... by moe_sc on Wednesday January 08, 2025 @10:03AM (#42634957)

That actually exists already!

The brand name of the material is D3o, it's used in products like the Fox Baseframe.

From personal experience this helps quite a bit, but i never had a crash where my spine took a hit.

Issue is, many people don't wear torso protection, just like a lot of people ride motorbikes in a T-Shirt/

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Spinal cord injuries from mountain biking exceed hockey, ... by gosub100 on Wednesday January 08, 2025 @12:34PM (#42636502)

I'm not a doctor, but I think most spinal injuries are caused by impact or compression from the axis of the spine (from one vertebrae to another). Not puncture injuries perpendicular to the torso.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Spinal cord injuries from mountain biking exceed hockey, ... by diggan on Thursday January 09, 2025 @08:57AM (#42645527)

> but I think most spinal injuries are caused by impact or compression from the axis of the spine

Yeah, that makes sense. I was thinking something that when expanded, would protect the bottom somehow + the top (maybe helmet is connected to this imaginary "spine protector"), so compressions would be really difficult on that axis.

[ Parent | on HN ]