Neck Collars

• Have weakness or wasting of their neck muscles with a tendency for the head to fall into a forward-flexed position*
• Need to keep their head in a neutral position for eye contact, swallowing, speaking, breathing, and engaging in other functional activities
• Have persistent asymmetrical head positioning (side flexion), leading to skin-care problems*
• Need neck support in seating and bed positioning as part of a 24-hour postural care regime to maintain complete optimized postural symmetry
• Find other neck supports ineffective or difficult to tolerate for long periods
• Need an alternative support to their wheelchair head support for periods of time each day to help with rest and relaxation

* Explaining neck flexion contracture skin-care problems:

With neck flexion contractures the skin folds on itself and this causes sweat build-up, due to limited or absent air-flow over the folded skin surface. This results in a permanent, damp microclimate within the skin fold, leading to skin excoriation (a form of maceration) and making the affected area vulnerable to inflammation, breakdowndamage, and infection.

Nursing and care staff find it very difficult to manage skin maceration damage caused by neck flexion contractures, since dressing damaged at-risk skin which is folded, is extremely challenging and does not resolve the problem of a the localised damp microclimate.

The most effective remedy for macerated at-risk neck skin is to restore air-flow and reduce perspiration. This requires the head to be supportively positioned to open up the area of contracture (where the skin is folded and vulnerable to macerationdamage) to air exposure. 

A most effective solution is to utilise the unique properties of natural wool and the supportive positioning provided by a Shear Comfort medical fleece neck collar, in order to:  

• restore air-flow to vulnerable skin
• prevent heat build-up (which leads to increased perspiration)  
• wick away moisture (without the fleece becoming damp to the touch)
• prevent sweat build-up (which would lead to skin maceration)

Shear Comfort medical fleece neck collars should be considered as a preventative measure for people who are beginning to develop neck contractures in order to avoid the secondary functional and skin-care problems which arise from neck contractures.

SC and XD neck collars may provide comfortable and functional support for people with the following clinical conditions (which often present with problems of neck weakness or asymmetrical or unbalanced muscle tone):

• Multiple Sclerosis                                         
• Muscular Dystrophies
• Motor Neurone Disease (ALD)
• Parkinson’s Disease                                                                          
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Stroke 
• Cervical Spinal Injury
• Cerebral Palsy
• Dementia
• Frailty with ageing