-
Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.
Helmet Study
- Thread starter ski diva
- Start date
Christy
Angel Diva
I find a hat more comfortable. The hair static and helmet head is worse when I take it off at lunch than if I'd worn a hat (which I could just keep on if the hat head was ridiculous). My last helmet seriously muffled my hearing--I had to use my hand to pull the earflap away from my ear if anyone was trying to talk to me, and if I talked to people apparently I would shout. I bought my current helmet with that in mind--when I tried helmets on I listened to people talking to see if I could hear them. I can't take off my turtle fur if I get warm without removing my helmet. It's a bulky to pack for a flight. I could probably go on but you get the picture.
mustski
Angel Diva
There is a lot that I don't like about helmets - muffled hearing, helmet head at après, last on requires it to be first off, etc. My problem is that my whole life I have hated having anything on my head; it makes me claustrophobic. Seriously, I was a theater teacher with a hat collection of well over 200 hats and I wore none of them! I skied my whole life with headbands and hoods -even in freezing cold weather. In fact, I was still in headband land when I first met a lot of you. We put helmets on after my son got a concussion, skateboarding. Since he now has no choice, we put one on in solidarity. Imagine my surprise when the helmet didn't bother me! I don't know why the helmet is different, but my head is warm for the first time in my life while skiing. I also started wearing one when riding a bike.
I wish rental packages included the helmet for the same price. What better way to get newbies in the habit? And to ensure safe and happy customers for those same newbies who are more likely to be falling more often?
nopoleskier
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My Mt's Learn to Ski package Does Include the Helmet, although we do have parents that REFUSE the helmet. We teach after school kids and I had to practically BEG a Mom to please get her kids the included helmets or at least bring the kids Bike Helmets.
MissySki
Angel Diva
That’s shocking! What is the reasoning for refusal?? The only thing I can think of are worries of lice or something from a used helmet for a kid. If that’s the case, buy one. No excuse to leave a kid without a helmet!
marzNC
Angel Diva
Not quite the same, but there are people in in states without a helmet law for motorcycles who ride on major highways without a motorcycle helmet. Just as there are plenty of kids who ride without a bicycle helmet.
Requiring helmets even for kids is relatively new in some regions. When I started my daughter on skis in 2004-05, neither the off-mountain ski shop, nor the resort ski shop had a supply of kid's helmets. So obviously helmets couldn't be required even for kids in ski school. That started a couple years later as part of major upgrades and improvements at the ski resort. There are plenty of local teens and young adults who are on the slopes without helmets, often on rental gear.
The New Jersey law requiring helmets for kids was effective for the 2011-12 season. Mountain Creek is the ski resort now owned and operated by the same people who are operating Big SNOW in American Dream Meadowlands (first indoor ski slope in the U.S.)
". . .
In January, Morristown Memorial Hospital completed a study of last year’s skiing and snowboarding season, finding helmet usage at Mountain Creek Ski Resort in Vernon lagged behind that of other parts of the nation, at 41 percent and 57 percent, respectively. Young men, especially risk-takers, were least likely to wear helmets, the hospital found.
While helmets won’t prevent serious injuries in high-speed, catastrophic crashes, the hospital’s analysis found the headgear prevents between 30 and 50 percent of injuries in wipeouts at moderate speed.
At the time of the hospital's study, not a single state in the country mandated helmet use on the slopes."
nopoleskier
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
She didn't think it was necessary!??
marzNC
Angel Diva
Came across a research study about helmets on snow done in Canada and reported in a medical journal. Sounds like back then some people were thinking a helmet would cause injuries to the neck and spine. Just as some people believe that not wearing a seatbelt and being ejected during a car crash is "safer" although any statistical analysis easily disproves that urban myth.
March 2010, The Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ is a peer-reviewed general medical journal)
The effect of helmets on the risk of head and neck injuries among skiers and snowboarders: a meta-analysis
[numbers in the last two paragraphs are links to references in the original article online]
March 2010, The Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ is a peer-reviewed general medical journal)
The effect of helmets on the risk of head and neck injuries among skiers and snowboarders: a meta-analysis
[numbers in the last two paragraphs are links to references in the original article online]
Abstract
Background: The prevention of head injuries in alpine activities has focused on helmets. However, no systematic review has examined the effect of helmets on head and neck injuries among skiers and snowboarders.
Methods: We searched electronic databases, conference proceedings and reference lists using a combination of the key words “head injury or head trauma,” “helmet” and “skiing or snowboarding.” We included studies that used a control group; compared skiers or snowboarders with and without helmets; and measured at least one objectively quantified outcome (e.g., head injury, and neck or cervical injury).
Results: We included 10 case–control, 1 case–control/case-crossover and 1 cohort study in our analysis. The pooled odds ratio (OR) indicated that skiers and snowboarders with a helmet were significantly less likely than those without a helmet to have a head injury (OR 0.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55–0.79). The result was similar for studies that used controls without an injury (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.36–0.92), those that used controls with an injury other than a head or neck injury (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.52–0.80) and studies that included children under the age of 13 years (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.27–0.59). Helmets were not associated with an increased risk of neck injury (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.72–1.09).
Interpretation: Our findings show that helmets reduce the risk of head injury among skiers and snowboarders with no evidence of an increased risk of neck injury.
Skiing and snowboarding are popular winter activities. 1 Estimates from numerous countries indicate that head injuries account for 9% to 19%, and neck injuries for 1% to 4%, of all injuries reported by ski patrols and emergency departments. 2–11 Rates of head and neck injuries have been reported between 0.09 and 0.46 per 1000 outings. 12 Head and neck injuries are disproportionately represented in cases of severe trauma, and traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of death and serious injury among skiers and snow-boarders. 13 As far back as 1983, Oh and Schmid recommended mandatory helmet use for children while skiing. 14
Many studies of the relation between helmet use and head injuries among skiers and snowboarders have found a protective effect. 15–24 It has been suggested that the use of helmets may increase the risk of neck injury in a crash or fall. 25 This may be more evident among children because they have a greater head:body ratio than adults, and the additional size and weight of the helmet may increase the risk of neck injury in an otherwise routine fall. 26 We conducted a systematic review of the effect of helmets on head and neck injuries among skiers and snowboarders."
marzNC
Angel Diva
Or her kid hated the idea and the mother didn't want to force the issue and cause a temper tantrum.
newboots
Angel Diva
I’m NOT a statistician and this is the first thing that jumped out at me. Studies usually look at narrow questions. Perhaps all the data together suggests that helmets prevent serious injury in many cases but when the impact becomes hard enough, though they prevent some types of injury they increase the likelihood of other types of injury.
All I know is, I took a crazy spill this weekend. I almost never fall. But this spill knocked me out. I couldn’t remember where I was and when ski patrol finally got to me there was a massive crack in my helmet. I sustained a concussion but didn’t have so much as a scratch on my skin. Better my helmet than my skull.
newboots
Angel Diva
Amen!
Hope you take it very easy in recovery and give yourself all the time you need. No noise, no activity. Lots of boring rest. Maybe yours isn’t that bad. I hope not!
I can just imagine the force that your helmet gave its life for!
slyfox4
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yup! See it all over the mountain, too.
I'll be honest, I started wearing a helmet halfway through my 2017 season. In 2016 and 2015 I skied here and there when my university voted on a mountain 15 minutes away from me. I will say, I think it made me a confident skier because I felt I could push myself harder BUT I do agree that some people act recklessly. I have park rat friends who NEVER wear a helmet, and they say they don't because they *don't* want to try a trick they might not be ready for. They'd rather do their tricks they know they can land. It's certainly an interesting sentiment.
But I also have a friend who sweats profusely while he skis...so he doesn't wear a helmet for the sole reason that it's too hot!
Blondeinabmw
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Guess there's always a need for Organ Donors....Could be a travel slogan in some states:
Need a liver transplant? We don't have helmet laws...
lisamamot
Angel Diva
LOL, quite clever!
Maine doesn't have a universal helmet law either - only under 18 or in a sidecar are required to wear one...I spend a lot of time in Maine and drive through NH quite a bit on my way home to visit family in VT as well. I am amazed at how many don't wear helmets...yikes.
Now that I have worn one for years, I love skiing in a helmet and I wouldn't ride a bicycle without one. Funny, I feel comfortable riding a horse on the flats without one, but I would never jump without one.
I wear an unlined beanie under my ski helmet (usually Skida Nordic) so helmet hair is covered!
KristinB
Certified Ski Diva
I always ski with a helmet - love my Smith with Mips. I was hit from behind on a blue by an out of control skier. I was slammed to the ground and my helmet sustained a small crack. The next week I was at the dentist and he wanted to know how I cracked my tooth - the only thing I could think of was that fall.
I see a lot of skiers and snowboarders in the southeast without helmets. I think the smaller mountains cause some complacency and a false sense of security. We may not have the looming mountains of Jackson, but any fall on any run can cause an injury.
The report is interesting but I think it is hard to justify the end results. The injuries were all different instead of from a controlled environment. I would think there would have to be a more consistent "fall" to get a true analysis - same speed, same conditions, etc.
I see a lot of skiers and snowboarders in the southeast without helmets. I think the smaller mountains cause some complacency and a false sense of security. We may not have the looming mountains of Jackson, but any fall on any run can cause an injury.
The report is interesting but I think it is hard to justify the end results. The injuries were all different instead of from a controlled environment. I would think there would have to be a more consistent "fall" to get a true analysis - same speed, same conditions, etc.
SkiGAP
Angel Diva
Still a good percentage of the French don't wear them, and a smaller percentage of the Spanish. More and more all the time though.
SallyCat
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The research coming out about helmets in general (in any sport) seems to point to the fact that it's better to wear one than not, but that helmets don't provide anywhere near the level of protection from brain injury that we assume they do.
Design improvements in skis and bikes allow us to go faster with more confidence than earlier gear. Concussion and trauma research tells us that if you're going fast and stop suddenly (whether you hit a tree or a defensive linebacker) your brain slams into your skull no matter what you're wearing outside your head. The DHMC study seems to be looking at a smattering of results in a somewhat unfocused way, but the conclusion is still "wear a helmet and also be careful not to crash or hit things."
Until we develop some kind of internal brain-restraint, I'm afraid the burden for avoiding TBIs is going to remain on the individual to avoid impacts.
Design improvements in skis and bikes allow us to go faster with more confidence than earlier gear. Concussion and trauma research tells us that if you're going fast and stop suddenly (whether you hit a tree or a defensive linebacker) your brain slams into your skull no matter what you're wearing outside your head. The DHMC study seems to be looking at a smattering of results in a somewhat unfocused way, but the conclusion is still "wear a helmet and also be careful not to crash or hit things."
Until we develop some kind of internal brain-restraint, I'm afraid the burden for avoiding TBIs is going to remain on the individual to avoid impacts.
