An innovative five- year project involving University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, &the NIHR Devices for Dignity (D4D) MedTech Co-operative, which is hosted by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, has culminated in developing a revolutionary neck collar for patients with motor neurone disease (MND). The collar has been developed to ease pain for people with MND, as well as making tasks such as eating and communication easier (via University of Sheffield).
Patients with MND helped to create the collar, which provides personalised support to the collection of small muscles in the neck which are particularly vulnerable to the wasting effects of the debilitating disease. A frequent problem caused by MND is the loss of strength in the neck, causing patients heads to droop to the side or the front. Before the Head Up Collar, the majority of the head supports available to MND patients resemble the restrictive braces used after a trauma, with alternatives being soft fabric collars. The Head Up collar has already been trialled in 10 different sites by over 100 MND patients – four-fifths of whom felt the collar helped them and they wanted to carry on using the collar after the trial.
Full details of the Head Up Collar can be found at the University of Sheffield
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