• For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.

Fascinating helmet study

Tricia

The Velvet Hammer
Admin
SkiTalk Tester
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Posts
27,298
Location
Reno
I read this a week ago and pondered how to approach this topic in a thread without stirring the helmet debate pot. While its an important topic for us here on Pugski.com, its also one of the hot button topics that tends to get folks riled up.
Because its important, I decided to bring it up and ask that we raise the bar on helmet discussion.

So, this study says that helmets are a great safety mechanism for skull fracture, but it suggests that the type of severe head trauma that happens when one is wearing a helmet tends to be from a crazy bad crash. The implication is that we let our guard down when we feel we have that extra layer of protection.

That being said, I know of a handful of situations where someone had a neck injury that could have been compounded if the person had been wearing a helmet, but I know a whole lot more people who could have sustained severe head trauma if they had not been wearing a helmet. (I hope that came out correctly, sometimes it sounds clearer in my head than it does when I write it down)

From a personal standpoint, I have only gone skiing without a helmet a handful of times since I began wearing a helmet. While I don't feel like I'm a risk taker when wearing a helmet, but the handful of times I have gone without one, I am a bit more timid than usual.
Helmet Use is Associated with Higher Injury Severity Scores
 

crgildart

Gravity Slave
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
16,329
Location
The Bull City
Do people ski at different levels of risk depending on how confident they feel about their bindings? i.e. do people on touring rigs avoid bump runs they would ordinarily ski with full alpine set ups?
 

Winks

AKA "Gary".
Industry Insider
SkiTalk Tester
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Feb 10, 2018
Posts
461
Location
CA
Thank you for posting an article like this @Tricia. Helmets can definitely increase confidence in a lot of people and in turn push them to take more risks. Every once in a while I will also ski without helmet and I do notice I am more timid.
My final thought on the matter is that I find helmets can be more useful than just for crashing. I have had my fair share of days skiing both in resort and outside of resort where I have either something fall on me or whacking low hanging tree branches.
 

James

Out There
Instructor
Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Posts
24,455
Somehow I don't think this is why Euro guides don't wear helmets. Some don't even wear a full hat.
dsc_5755.jpg
 
Thread Starter
TS
Tricia

Tricia

The Velvet Hammer
Admin
SkiTalk Tester
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Posts
27,298
Location
Reno
Maybe it's because people with helmets don't get minor injuries and therefore are not seen at L1 trauma centers? :doh:
That's absolutely viable. This is why I think this discussion is fascinating.
 

scott43

So much better than a pro
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
13,552
Location
Great White North
I think risk compensation has been around for a while.. ABS brakes is one example..I remember watching something where one of the participants suggested the best way to keep people safe in cars was to put a giant spike in the centre of the steering wheel. I've always found it insulting when someone reports on a cycling incident and they always include whether the cyclist was wearing a helmet or not. Behaviour is never encapsulated so completely as a flippant, yup, they were not wearing a helmet. The cyclist goes under a truck and is cut in half by the wheels but they report on the helmet which has nothing to do with the outcome of the patient.
 

KevinF

Gathermeister-New England
Team Gathermeister
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
3,345
Location
New England
I always wear my helmet during my two of my favorite activities (cycling and skiing). I've crashed hard enough in both activities to be admitted to the ER with broken shoulders. In both cases, the ER docs complimented me on the wisdom of wearing a helmet -- i.e., a bad outcome isn't worse, congrats, you'll be 100% in a few weeks.

I've always felt that there's some extrapolation going on -- i.e., "you fell hard enough to break your shoulder, your head is higher than your shoulder, therefore your head would have broken too if not for the helmet".

I think anybody who has been around injuries even in a peripheral basis realizes that injuries aren't quite that simple. Natasha Richardson falls on the bunny hill and sustains a fatal injury; I've taken high-speed diggers in pre-helmet years (like everybody else reading this probably has) and walked away without a scratch. Sometimes you just "fall wrong" and injuries result.

I think helmets protect against very specific injuries. They're relatively cheap insurance. There's a whole host of injury scenarios where a helmet isn't going to help.
 

RobSN

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2019
Posts
1,070
Location
Prescott Valley, AZ
I look back on the days before helmets with a frisson of horror (e.g. see my avatar). As a young man, I had wipe-outs at high speed that would have resulted in a headectomy if there had been any rocks around, but - had that happened - may well have worked out ok with a helmet. I suspect that the truth is "crazy bad crashes" happen. Some a helmet will help, and some it won't matter. Since the study talks about the ones where it didn't matter or more accurately the helmet couldn't protect against, I suspect that there is a reporting bias. Unless one gets statistics on all crazy bad crashes and then splits them up into helmet use/helmet non-use, and then splits helmet use into helped/didn't help, I'm not sure that one can draw the conclusion that we let our guards down wearing helmets.
 

RobSN

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2019
Posts
1,070
Location
Prescott Valley, AZ
I always wear my helmet during my two of my favorite activities (cycling and skiing). I've crashed hard enough in both activities to be admitted to the ER with broken shoulders.
I hit black ice on my bike and went down and broke my collar bone. I also distinctly remember hearing the clunk as my helmet hit the road, fast. There was no way I would have prevented my head hitting the road if I hadn't been wearing a helmet. The same problem of things happening too fast to protect your head can happen in a ski wipe out.
 

Eleeski

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Nov 13, 2015
Posts
2,287
Location
San Diego / skis at Squaw Valley
I ride a bike on the road with a helmet. I don't use one when just cruising around on a bike.

I wear a helmet skiing on icy days. I don't wear one when it's soft. Helmets make my head itch so I only use them when I see tangible risks.

Any fall (at my age) is a high risk event. So I'm always reasonably timid. I've also avoided serious injuries. The helmet is a small factor in my approach to risk management.

I slipped walking on the ice a couple weeks ago. Whacked my head pretty hard. No stars, no loss of consciousness and no skull bruise. But every muscle in my neck was sore. With a helmet, would I have loaded my neck even more? Perhaps there is some mechanical validity to the effect that shows up in the statistics.

Soft helmets might be very useful for some skiing falls (or a slip like mine). I wonder why we don't see any available. Adapt boxing training helmets?

Eric
 

dbostedo

Asst. Gathermeister
Moderator
Contributor
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Posts
18,097
Location
75% Virginia, 25% Colorado
Did you actually buy the journal article @Tricia? I'm curious what the actual data shows in detail.

There are several things that cloud the issue when doing a study like this, because you can't make apples-to-apples comparisons - there are multiple variables changing. One is that park skiing has increased alongside helmet usage. It's not clear what the cause and effect is there - but it certainly seems like skiing behavior has gotten riskier right along with helmet usage.

As far as particular accidents, sure there are examples where the helmet obviously matters... but there are probably also lots of examples where a person wouldn't have taken the risk they did without a helmet and therefore wouldn't have gotten hurt at all. Of course, I guess the best of both worlds would be if people wore helmets, and then didn't change anything about their behavior - but it doesn't seem to work that way. More protection across a large population seems to lead to more risk.
 

cantunamunch

Meh
Skier
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Posts
21,912
Location
Behavioral sink
Last edited:

scott43

So much better than a pro
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
13,552
Location
Great White North
One of the best studies or situations of helmet use if the repeal of the Florida motorcycle helmet law. The results pretty clearly lay out the case for helmet use. Some argue that if you use a helmet you will be injured for life and require care whereas if you hadn't worn a helmet you'd simply be dead, and this is a good thing. However..I think regardless, helmets make sense if only because you can't control what others may do to you... You can't fix stupid..

 

Decreed_It

I'd rather be skiing
Skier
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Posts
905
Location
Northern Beaches, Sydney, Australia
Thread tangent: looking for studies/proof that specific types of helmets (MIPS maybe?) are best at preventing concussions. Got a kid's brain, most important to protect, I need to worry about. And my own.

We absolutely believe in helmets in our fam, no question.
 

Novaloafah

Should've paid attention to that lesson.
Skier
Joined
Sep 6, 2017
Posts
238
Location
Halifax NS Canada
Interesting report. I got curious and had a glance at the 4 standards out in the interweb for non motorized snow sports (Snell, EN, ASTM, and CSA) and they are all very aimed at stopping penetration and distributing force (I'd guess to keep from fracturing the skull). From the report those injuries are pretty low but snow globe (brain slosh?) injuries haven't been reduced and might have risen with helmets. Which makes sense because helmets can't protect your brain bouncing around when you go from even low speed to a sudden complete stop (I think I read stationary objects, maybe like snow gun, tree, lift pole?) Do people go faster, take more risks with helmets? Likely just a little bit. Between the study years 2010-2018 are more new to sport folk (being a higher risk for fall/injury) coming on the hills wearing helmets? Does the modern ski, make it easier to go faster, ski terrain that has more risks? Do people get new helmets after bashing a helmet in a fall? A lot of helmets lose some effectiveness just by being dropped from waist high to a hard surface, Anyways all very interesting

Worst head shot I ever took was due to inattention with a group lesson on level green run on way to a lift. a little too much speed and conversation resulted in a tumble and cracked helmet. And a bit of a headache. Could've been worse than the headache I head but not much worse than the embarassment
 

Sponsor

Staff online

Top