35% safer with a helmet
Wednesday February 3, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The article appears in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and examines 12 separate studies conducted over the past 18 years.

They were from Europe, Canada, the USA and Japan.

They contained information on self-reported injuries and reports from ski patrols, medical centres and insurance companies.

In total 9,829 people injured were wearing a helmet and 36,735 were not.

For full details of the report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal see here. 

It makes interesting reading.

Some compulsion for childrenThe number of people wearing a helmet has gone up sharply in recent years, last year fuelled by the death of Natasha Richardson in Canada and the death of a woman who was in collision with a well known German politician in Austria.

Some compulsion has now been introduced in Austria with children having to wear a ski helmet while on the slopes.

It is though unlikely there will be any widespread compulsion in Europe.

The study though did not look at how wearing a helmet afffects skiers and snowboarders behaviour.  Some say that if people wear a helmet then they go faster on the slopes and feel safer, thus making the sport more dangerous.

It did not look at the different types of helmet available and which ones, if any, are safer than others.

One area of concern has been that wearing a helmet may make neck injury more likely, especially amoung children.  It was feared the weight of the helmet could increase the risk of whiplash injury.

The new survey though seems to rule this out. 

"What we found was, effectively, that there was a reduction in head injury risk with helmet use but no associated increase in neck injury risk with helmet use," said Brent Hagel of the University of Calgary.

The reports conclusion is simple and calls for further work on the subject.

"Our pooled analysis of evidence suggests that helmets are effective in reducing the risk of head injury among skiers and snowboarders. We found no significant association between helmet use and an increased risk of neck injury. Based on our findings, we encourage the use of helmets among skiers and snowboarders. Additional, methodologically rigorous research is required to determine which types of helmets provide the best protection."

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