The Tom Wheeler Project Part 1.

 I'm totally with you there. I think about how many trees and rocks I've pile-driven my body and head into and it's kind of amazing to think we just walk away from some horrible stuff. I've become a huge Leatte Brace supporter and I swear mine has saved my neck a half dozen times.

 yeah same ive had a friend who probably would be parapeliegic or something similar right now if not for his leatte neck brace ( he crashed at the new crabbaple hits trail in whistler...HUGE JUMPS) ....anyways yeah do you think in this ^^^ situation a leatte neck would have helped him?

 It definitely wouldn't have hurt him

 At Whistler I landed on my face and didn't break my neck. Thanks Jesus!

 These are all reasons why i now ride with a chest protector, if he had one maybe this could have been avoided

 I doubt very much a Chest protector would of prevented his injury or any injury to be honest.

 For the record he was wearing a Spidi spine and chest protector.

 In my opinion the pros should be wearing pressure suits. Because ultimately they set the 'trend'. If they all had to wear one, then none of them are at a disadvantage and it may make the more average of us bikers wear them too. Which in turn will help prevent things like this happening. I came off my bike pretty bad recently and all I broke is a finger, I can't even imagine getting an injury like that. Good luck with the recovery (:

 Leatt most likely would not help in ths situation. The impact in this type of injury is to the shoulder with this stopping forward momentum causing a traction injury to the nerve bundle to the arm, not a neck injury. Basically the shouilder stops and the body keeps going. There is a slight possibility that it could stop the sidebend of the neck to reduce the traction to the plexus, but there have been a few cases where the downward compression of the Leatt on the clavicle could result in a nasty fracture which then can cut the subclavian artery underneath. Bottom line if you're relying on your Leatt often then you need to rethink your risk exposure.

 If I was analyzing the details of what a crash is doing to my body that deeply, I probably could not get on my bike and ride it. Your last statement is like saying that if you are relying on your helmet to help prevent T.B.I., then you shouldn't ride bikes in a dangerous way. Along that thread, you could argue that you should only engage in an activity to the point where ANY safety equipment is needed, and stop there because your risk exposure is too high. You could also argue that the need for the seat-belt to exist at all could be avoided if no one ever drove in cars. The fact that I believe my Leatt *probably* helped mitigate damage to my neck on various occasions may or may not be true, but I BELIEVE that it helps keep me safer doing a very UN-safe activity that I enjoy. Beyond demonstrating your knowledge of human anatomy, your argument could be summed up as "If you need to wear something to prevent injury during an activity, don't do that activity." I assume that, as you are a member of this website, you ride bikes too... and I doubt that you would stop riding bikes because your safety equipment *might* not prevent every single potential injury possible while riding. If it helps make a dangerous sport even a little safer, I don't see a problem... even after witnessing a friend break all kinds of OTHER bones because of his Leatt brace, but NOT his cervical vertebrae. And I've heard those are kind of important.

 With all due respect ( i think this is a great video project) I have to agree with Ben above. I could barely make out what the guy was saying. Just a suggestion to turn down the music a bit because, after all, this video is about his story...

Thanks

 I think the same, I couldnt really make what he was saying. Is his arm permanently paralized? Didnt catch why, just the eh broke the shoulder.

Hope Tom gets better soon!

 Me and two mates were on holiday in Morzine. All was going well then on the last day my mate went off a north shore jump a bit too slow and now has a broken neck. Luckily he should make a full recovery and isn't letting it take over the fun in his life. Still going to ride once it's completely healed but really opens your eyes to how things can go wrong in this sport :/
Hope your recovery goes well.

 theres northshore in Morzine!!! lol

 The North Shore is a place. There are ladder bridges in Morzine.

 I know about the northshore in vancouver. i thought north shore was a general term for all ladder bridge type thing

 It's Ok Kettle, most brits call it that, don't be a dick Akirizu!

 you pronounce 'out' 'oot' haha

 No that's how a newfoundlander speaks, the rest of Canada is normal.

 meh, ill take your word for it, not the best comback lol. im going to stop this here coz its got nothing to do with the injury.

 not necessarily my brother broke his collarbone wearing a full body with shoulder padding.

 Hey I feel your pain on that brother. I was doing a race here in S. Korea and I was feeling really fast and came into a narrow left turn with a tree on the inside apex of the turn and I leaned into the turn a little to much and cought my left shoulder on the tree and seperated it. Had surgery on it and now im out for a long while. DH is very dangerous and you gotta be on it at all times.

 I think you may have missed the point of this video. Although what your saying is valid I think the most important thing to learn is that with will power and love for the sport you can really have a positive attitude to something that would stop the vast majority of people from ever riding again. Tom, I wish you all the best with your recovery and I am sure your outlook will show to other people in the same situation that if riding is your passion then you should never stop trying to do it no matter what.

 That is the point of the video, but arguably the most important thing is to learn from experiences like this. Having a positive attitude is paramount after going through something like this, but finding out what preventative measures would have been effective is most important for those of us lucky enough to not have.

 @tomboulter Though i did not highlight Tom Wheeler's many admirable qualities I absolutely took notice of them. I to with Tom Wheeler nothing but the best and hope that he does fully recover. That said I would still like to know what happened and if there was any particular protective equipment that could have prevented his injury. Again Tom I wish you nothing but the best, Good luck!

 paralyzed arm

 Greenland

 Which would not have stopped a separated or fractured shoulder blade that compressed the brachial plexus nerve. Given the angle he speared in at a spine protector probably would not have helped prevent this injury in this crash either.

 The brace may have helped diffuse the impact to the shoulder - I was born with a brachial plexus injury at birth - it's about 1 in 200,000 - the only lottery I ever won. My right arm is slightly smaller, less mobile and weaker. I have it mild compared to others, born with the same thing. I don't know how it'll affect you long term Tom, I hope you regain your motor control , as much as you can to be able to do what you love. I never let mine get me down or stop me - I love mtbing, been doing it 20 yrs now and even took up white water kayaking, But for me, I knew no other, being born with the injury - for you, it'll take a bigger adjustment and commitment. It's a state of mind. Best of luck.

 ive seen the whole video of the crash, his head raps around the tree! a neck brace wouldn't have helped

 If anything i would think it would of been worse with a neckbrace.

 True that^^^^*