How to Make Your Own Neck Brace

When I woke up yesterday one muscle in my neck was totally in spasm. I threatened it by saying: "If you don't stop this, I am going to rip you right out of my body!"

Alas, it did not stop, so I used a towel and a piece of rope to make a neck brace, which really helped me keep from stressing my neck further.

Instructables member superlefty (who is also my sister) was luckily in town and was able to help me demonstrate how you can make your own neck brace too.

Check out her writing at www.superlefty.com. It's awesome.

This one is pretty darn simple, all you need is a towel and a piece of rope thats at least two feet long.

Fold the towel into thirds the long way.

Hold the end of the towel on your neck (preferably not on the front of your neck because that's where you breathe). Then, start wrapping the towel tightly around your neck.

Wrap the rope around your neck firmly - you will want that support, but not so tightly that you cut off oxygen or blood flow.

Tie a regular overhand knot in the rope like you were going to tie your shoes, then tie one more on top of that but don't pull the tail of one of the pieces of rope all the way through. This is called tying a knot on a "bite" of rope. You can pull on the tail of the bite and the knot will come out, that way you won't have to fumble around trying to get it off.

Once the knot is tied, it's done!

I could barely move my head after I tied mine on, which was great since just about any movement made me wince in pain. This kind of head immobilization would be really good for stabilizing victims of neck injuries in a pinch or even just for dozing off on the airplane without having to worry about your head flopping onto your neighbors shoulder.