# JFK Backbrace question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 22, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jfk-backbrace-question/110321 "2002-05-22T16:07:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![insider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@insider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/insider)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jfk-backbrace-question/110321/1 "2002-05-22T16:07:52Z")
When JFK was shoot in Dalles, was he wearing a backbrace as the result of the injuries incurred in the PT109 incident? If he was wearing a brace, is that why he did not stay down after the first shot? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2002, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jfk-backbrace-question/110321/2 "2002-05-22T16:53:02Z")
Most reports indicated he wore the brace that day. [Check here.](http://www.conspire.com/jfkfaq.html) and you’ll find this: > [@](#): > > 5.5 The third shot > Oswald’s third shot hit JFK in the cowlick area of the back of the head. JFK’s head moved forward for a brief fraction of a second and then his body fell back and slumped to the left side. The explanation for the non-intuitive backwards reaction relies on many possible factors which would be almost impossible to duplicate in a single experiment. Some of the factors are: 1) JFK’s nervous system had already been damaged by his first wound, which grazed his spinal cord, 2) the head shot creat- ed instant, massive damage to the nervous system, 3) the bullet made a small hole on entry, then created a forward-moving wave of pressure in the soft tissue, causing a large exit wound and the escape of pressure to the front (referred to as the “jet effect”), **4) JFK was wearing a back brace which stiffened his upper body,** 5) the vehicle was moving. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jfk-backbrace-question/110321/3 "2002-05-23T05:41:30Z")
The back brace theory is cherished by people who like cheap irony – the small things causing major unseen consequences years later idea. There is no reason to believe that the first shot that went through the soft tissues of President Kennedy’s neck would have brought him down if he had not been wearing a back brace. No snapping of Kennedy’s head or neck was seen by bystanders following the shot that hit him in the neck. In any case, Oswald (or whoever you want to think shot him in the neck) was shooting downward into an open covertible from six stories above. Even if Kennedy had fallen forward or to the side, he would still be an open target from that height. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jfk-backbrace-question/110321/4 "2002-05-23T14:34:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\*The back brace theory is cherished by people who like cheap irony – the small things causing major unseen consequences years later idea. > > There is no reason to believe that the first shot that went through the soft tissues of President Kennedy’s neck would have brought him down if he had not been wearing a back brace. No snapping of Kennedy’s head or neck was seen by bystanders following the shot that hit him in the neck. > > In any case, Oswald (or whoever you want to think shot him in the neck) was shooting downward into an open covertible from six stories above. Even if Kennedy had fallen forward or to the side, he would still be an open target from that height. \*\* But didn’t John Connolly slump over immediately into Nellie Connolly’s lap? And if the angle of the trajectory was low enough for one bullet to hit both Kennedy and Connolly, doesn’t that indicate that Kennedy would have been hidden behind the back seat or at least behind Jackie’s upper body from Oswald’s perspective, had he slumped over? ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jfk-backbrace-question/110321/5 "2002-05-23T14:35:28Z")
The back brace he was wearing was not due to a war or football injury. It was due to Addison’s disease. Even if he had not been shot the second time he probably would have died from the first shot because of the Addison’s. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jfk-backbrace-question/110321/6 "2002-05-23T17:12:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by puddleglum \* > \*\*The back brace he was wearing was not due to a war or football injury. It was due to Addison’s disease. Even if he had not been shot the second time he probably would have died from the first shot because of the Addison’s. \*\* I don’t quite follow. The fact that JFK had Addison’s disease would have rendered him unable to recover from the neck wound? Why? I’m not a doctor, and a little knowldege is a dangerous thing, but I did find the following description of the [symptoms](http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/endo/pubs/addison/addison.htm) of Addison’s disease (about halfway down the page). It says that illness or an accident can trigger something called an “Addisonian crisis”–is this what you’re talking about?