Neck muscle exerciser and method of assessing neck muscle performance

摘要

Training neck muscles in such a way as to improve responsiveness to head acceleration forces, and to help prevent concussion and/or screen subjects who are at high risk of concussion, especially from contact sports, the neck muscles may be trained to improve strength and responsiveness to head acceleration. This may be accomplished by a device and/or method of training that incorporates an adjustable centripetal force about a fixed axis on the head. The centripetal force may be adjusted through varying the weight and/or length of a force arm. Neck muscle performance may be measured by the number of revolutions of the force arm completed over a pre-determined time period or the time required to complete a pre-determined number of revolutions of the force arm.

主权项

1. A neck muscle exercising or performance assessment device comprising:
a substantially rigid elongated element configured to demountably receive one or more demountable weights selectively positionable along a length of the elongated element; a mount on which the elongated element is rotatably mounted proximate a first end of the elongated element, the elongated element rotatable around a central axis, the elongated element extending radially from the central axis; headwear to which the mount is rigidly attached, the headwear wearable on a head of a subject so that the central axis is through the head and rotational motion of the head causes the elongated element to revolve around the central axis; and, a counter configured to count a number of revolutions of the elongated element.