Many people with our condition take to wearing a soft collar. I have to say that my experience of a soft collar was that, although it restricted me from easily going into flexion (with my head looking down), on the whole it made the symptoms worse because it didn’t stop my head from shifting.
With cranio-cervical instability and low-lying cerebellar tonsils, we have two main mechanical problems to avoid.
1. Flexion – as this further compresses delicate brain tissue and will aggravate symptoms.
2. Forward shifting of the head caused by bending forwards, which does the same as above.
So does the original philadelphia collar address these problems ? mainly yes. The problem with the original philadelphia collar though, is that it is rather overheating at times.
Also you need to keep it scrupulously clean and wear fresh linings with it daily, or it will make the skin sore. These linings are not that easy to get hold of these days.
So my comments on this new collar pictured above are, it will certainly restrict or stop flexion but will it stop the head from shifting when you bend forwards, as there is nothing cupping the chin. Somehow I don’t think it will but I’d like to hear from anyone who has found different. It certainly looks cooler than the original, with air more freer flowing.
Barbara
(UK)