On the sports field or battlefield, the Q-Collar is protective gear specifically designed to help safeguard the brain. While a helmet protects the skull from the outside, the Q-Collar gives an added layer of protection on the inside by limiting brain movement. The Q-Collar is the first and only FDA-clearedIn February 2021, the FDA authorized (or “cleared”) it is as a safe and effective device intended to be worn around the neck of athletes aged 13 years and older during sports activities to aid in the protection of the brain.

Because the brain floats inside the skull, it moves – sometimes with great force – when the head is exposed to an impact. By applying light pressure to the sides of the neck, the Q-Collar increases blood volume in the brain’s venous structures, reducing the harmful internal movement that causes brain injury. The Q-Collar is a noninvasive solution to brain protection, and there have been no negative effects reported relating to wearing it. The inventors of the Q-Collar and Q30 Innovations–with a team of leaders in sports medicine and biomedical engineering–took a fresh look at brain protection by designing an innovative solution that relies on the body’s physiology to provide protection for the brain from within. Initial research revealed that jugular vein compression can reduce damage to brain neurons and axons (key indicators of brain injury) by over 80%.

Damage from brain slosh can be catastrophic when it occurs on a large scale, but research shows that it is also quite harmful on a small scale–especially in the long term. Damage from these smaller events, called repetitive sub-concussive impacts, accumulates over time. Repeated impacts caused by headers, jostling, and collisions may alter the white matter What is white matter? Deeper tissues of the brain, or deep tissue, of the brain, posing long-term health risks including decreased mental acuity, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)A brain disease that can only be diagnosed after death. It has been linked to specific changes in the brain that affect how the brain works, dementia, and Alzheimer’s.