Experimental and computational study on the effects of wearing neck collar on the carotid blood flow

The effect of football neck collar on the right external carotid blood flow was investigated for ten healthy subjects using Echo-Doppler technique and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. Carotid is in charge of blooding head’s parts including the brain and eyes. Hence, the evaluation of affected carotid flow by using neck collars is crucial for an improved ergonomic design. The testings were divided into three main categories; participants without wearing neck collar (Category 1), wearing neck collar (Category 2), and finally wearing neck collar with an embedded gap adjacent to the carotid artery position (Category 3). The experimental and numerical results revealed that wearing the neck collar (Category 2) reduced the average blood carotid flow by 28% compared to the case with no neck collar (Category 1). This average blood carotid flow reduction was improved by 15% when a gap separates the collar from the carotid artery position (Category 3). The results of this paper suggest a new design for the next generation of the neck collar by devising an appropriate gap near to carotid artery. The numerical results were validated and were in a reasonable agreement with the experimental data.