Hat’s the way to do it. Or is it?
In some sports wearing a helmet is compulsory, at times even vital. But in many adventure sports helmet use is optional, and remains a hotly-contested subject: So, does wearing a helmet really make you any safer?
It seems logical that wearing anything to protect your head will only make your sporting activities safer. And maybe this is the problem…
Sounds crazy, but perhaps people just feel safer and better protected, and then take more risks?
For many people sport is part of their identity. Over regulation, even when it comes to matters of safety, can create a backlash, leaving the argument to be more about the freedom not to wear, than the need to protect.
One problem is the lack of helpful clinical research; it’s not that there’s none, it’s because there has been so much, and it’s so confusing.
Using cycling as an example – it’s perhaps the sport that has featured most heavily in recent research – the data is bewildering.
According to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, a law to make the wearing of helmets compulsory halved the number of head injuries – but after it was passed 50 per cent less people cycled. And get this: the number of non-head injuries increased by six per cent!
Still, the most respected research notes that helmets reduce the severity of brain injury by 88 per cent – but that’s if you have a crash.
So is it not more about the attitudes of riders? Are we taking more risks? Are the pistes, roads, and ramps less or more safe?
ATB riders should take note of US research from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), which reminds motorcycle riders of the need to keep their lids on.
“Helmet use is the single most important factor in people surviving motorcycle crashes,” says the organisation’s president Dr. Angela Gardner.
But snowboarders, skaters, coasteerers, even skydivers wear helmets. Where’s the guidance for the extreme sports community?
Can you add to the debate?
Research available here:
http://tinyurl.com/33a3xj2
http://tinyurl.com/3adkpo9
6 Comments to “Hat’s the way to do it. Or is it?”
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Tim B
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I’m off riding right now, and I feel a whole lot safer with my helmet on. In the end, it’s about how safe you are on the road.
And how safe it is to be on the road.
As for skiing and snowboarding, I wiped out a hundred times, never once was it my head that I fell on, always my arse!
Glad I had my helmet on last evening. Got thrown off the bike head first crossing a row of logs and hit the ground hard about 5 feet below. My helmet kept me from having a massive headache today. Wish I’d had a helmet for my shoulder and my knee…they’re not doing so well today….
I always wear a helmet when snowboarding. Having hit trees, hard ice and other boards with my head I have been very glad that in Canada when you hire a board it is compulsory that you take a helmet as that is the only reason I started wearing one. Once I had worn it for a few days it seemed natural and more comfortable than a hat.
On the flip side though wearing a helmet does make me feel safer and more likely to ride harder, faster and try new things.
I also wear a helmet when cycling to work but this is more because I don’t trust drivers rather than thinking I might fall off…..
Vic,
As soon as you have had the road rash experience, you never go back.
Some cyclists, instructors among them, claim wearing a helmet makes it more likely you will suffer a neck injury.
This is because when rolling, the helmet holds the head and neck while the body rotates. Even so it’s the kerb, the bonnet (hood), and those pesky logs that I worry more about!
Thanks for your post,
Mp
I think we all should be wearing helmets however I am being an hypocrite as I ride to work without wearing helmets. I just don’t seem to get the time to find a helmet!
Last week, I was reading the BBC news about road rage against cyclists. One guy got hit on purpose by a driver as cyclists don’t pay road taxes so therefore we shouldn’t have the right of way, cyclist paths and a say in it. That is disgusting behaviours of (some) drivers so therefore we ought to wear helmets regardless they may give us sore necks..
It’s best to be safe than sorry.
I promise I’ll look into getting a helmet!
Helmets, helmets…I fell off my long-board (road type not water!) about 5 years ago and ended up in hospital with a brain haemorrhage – a sure enough scare to send me running out to buy a helmet for every possible activity. Nevertheless, after a period of religiously ‘helmet-ing up’ I’ve found that whereas in some sports, my desire to wear a helmet grows ever stronger, in others the need has waned. It really can depend n the sport, I think…
I would never cycle without my helmet but, despite the fact that hitting water at speed can feel like concrete, I’ve stopped using my windsurf helmet altogether, finding that it decreases my awareness, whereas when kite-surfing I always wear a lid – just in-case a freak gust lands me back in the carpark! I agree with Luke that wearing a helmet can change your attitude to a sport – as soon as my ski-helmet’s on, my regard for safety shrinks massively.
As a rule, I’d say that beginners of any sport should wear a helmet, as should any concrete-related sports people. Ice can be harder than tarmac, so the rule should really apply for skiing and boarding too.