A spring-loaded compliant neck brace with adjustable supports.

Patients with head drop need external support to keep the head up and move it around. Their neck muscles are not strong enough to bring the head back to the neutral configuration from a flexed position. They often use static neck braces to keep the head in the upright configuration. These braces do not allow movement of the head-neck and cause further atrophy to the muscles. In this paper, we present a spring-loaded dynamic neck brace to support the head in a desired equilibrium configuration. The brace is fitted with torsional springs that can provide restoring forces to the head as it is displaced from the equilibrium configuration. The equilibrium configuration is adjustable by preloading the springs. In this paper, we present a mathematical model and validate through experiments with a prototype. The dynamic brace was found to provide sufficient support to the neck in a configuration while also allowing the users to move their head. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]