A head and neck restraint system includes a vertical support and a head and neck restraint assembly coupled to the vertical support. The head and neck restraint assembly includes a pair of spaced members coupled to the vertical support. The pair of spaced members have a spring memory that permits movement of one of said members toward and away from the other member or movement of both of said members toward and away from each other. One or more spring biased wedges avoid the spring memory from returning one or both of the spaced members to a starting position after movement of one of the members toward the other member or movement of both of the members towards each other.