I had a Jefferson fracture to my C-1 about a year ago and am lucky enough to have healed entirely (which is, I know, incredibly lucky, and I count my blessings for that daily).
I am now contemplating getting back in the saddle – despite the scare, there is a hole in my life I can’t fill. My ortho, who sees a lot of jockeys, has said that there is no medical reason to stop me from riding. He did caution that if I were to break the C-1 again, god forbid, I could be at an increased risk of spinal damage, but I understand the risk and have accepted it.
As an extra precaution, though, I am thinking of riding in an eventing vest with airbags as I understand some of those will inflate at the neck and therefore protect against compression fractures. (Obviously, I wear a helmet, especially after one saved my life.) I was wondering if anyone had any experience using these after a neck injury, or any other way of adding extra neck protection after an injury. I come from the hunter/jumper world so I am not particularly familiar with the vests and how they would inflate.
Any experiences would be very welcome. Thanks.
