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BackTable / MSK / Podcast / Episode #35

Q Collar: Protecting the Brain from Impact

with Taylor Rapp and Dr. Wayne Olan

In this episode, host Dr. Dana Dunleavy interviews NFL player Taylor Rapp and neurointerventional radiologist Dr. Wayne Olan about the role of the Q collar in safeguarding the brain from impact.

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Q Collar: Protecting the Brain from Impact with Taylor Rapp and Dr. Wayne Olan on the BackTable MSK Podcast)
Ep 35 Q Collar: Protecting the Brain from Impact with Taylor Rapp and Dr. Wayne Olan
00:00 / 01:04

BackTable, LLC (Producer). (2023, November 21). Ep. 35 – Q Collar: Protecting the Brain from Impact [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://www.backtable.com

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Podcast Contributors

Taylor Rapp discusses Q Collar: Protecting the Brain from Impact on the BackTable 35 Podcast

Taylor Rapp

Taylor Rapp is a defensive safety for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League.

Dr. Wayne Olan discusses Q Collar: Protecting the Brain from Impact on the BackTable 35 Podcast

Dr. Wayne Olan

Dr. Wayne Olan is the director of Interventional and Endovascular Neurosurgery at the GW Medical Faculty Associates/GW Hospital and is an associate professor at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Dr. Dana Dunleavy discusses Q Collar: Protecting the Brain from Impact on the BackTable 35 Podcast

Dr. Dana Dunleavy

Dr. Dana Dunleavy is a musculoskeletal and vascular IR in Buffalo, New York.

Synopsis

Taylor Rapp, a native of Washington state, pursued his college education at the University of Washington, where he also played football. He was later drafted by the LA Rams and played for them for a few years. Recently, Taylor made a move to Buffalo, NY, and now plays safety for the Buffalo Bills. He recounts his brain injury and severe concussion in 2021 while he was playing for the LA Rams. Later on, he heard about the Q collar from his agent and subsequently incorporated it into his gear in the following season.

Dr. Olan discusses the origin of the Q collar, which was initially developed in the military to protect and minimize brain movement. He highlights a study from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where the role of the Q collar was examined utilizing Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), a type of MRI technique that specifically examines the white matter tract. Within a cohort of 500 athletes, 77% of athletes who wore the Q collage showed no evidence of shear injury whereas 73% of athletes who did not wear the collar showed gray-white matter shearing injury. He further discusses the mechanism by which the Q collar protects the brain from injury. It stabilizes the brain and minimizes movement by decreasing venous return to the brain by 30%, which he compares to wearing a necktie. He makes an important distinction that the Q collar does not occlude venous return, and therefore, does not have significant clinical adverse effects.

They end the episode by advocating for the significance of educating younger athletes about the risks of contact sports and enhancing safety across all sports.

Resources

Neck Collar with Mild Jugular Vein Compression Study:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28437225/

Transcript Preview

[Dr. Wayne Olan]
Okay, well, first and foremost, it works by basically, and the idea behind it is to stabilize the brain inside your skull. How do you do that? If you increase the size of your veins, which are between the brain and the skull, not deep inside, you can then minimize the movement. The best analogy is almost like putting on a seatbelt, right? You now basically put a seatbelt on your brain so you can't move inside your skull when your brain, your body, your skull, everything accelerates and decelerates at very high velocities. That's all it does.

The reason why it's not significant clinically just to wear it, because it's not an occlusion. It's just a 30% diminished in venous return. It's one and a half pounds of pressure. It's exactly the same pressure as wearing a necktie. If Taylor's at a game during church and the game breaks out, he's protected. It's the same exact thing.

Disclaimer: The Materials available on BackTable.com are for informational and educational purposes only and are not a substitute for the professional judgment of a healthcare professional in diagnosing and treating patients. The opinions expressed by participants of the BackTable Podcast belong solely to the participants, and do not necessarily reflect the views of BackTable.

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