Leatt

South African inventor Dr. Christopher Leatt filed his first neck-brace-related patent in 2003. The Leatt-Brace is designed to work only when worn in conjunction with the full-face helmets typically used in the aforementioned activities. The brace uses what the inventor calls Alternative Load Path Technology to help absorb and disperse injury-producing forces. The brace is designed to limit hyperflexion, hyperextension, lateral hyperflexion and posterior hypertranslation, which are extreme forward, backward, sideways, and rearward movement of the head on the neck. Although the brace cannot protect against pure axial compression of the spine, it is designed to help minimize such loading, when coupled with one of the extreme movements above.