Study on ski helmets

VTKilarney · Dec 5, 2019

Summary: “But, despite the increase in helmet use, the rate of head injury did not change significantly, decreasing only slightly from 49% to 43%, the researchers found.”

Article here: https://vtdigger.org/2019/12/04/dar...tion/?is_wppwa=true&wpappninja_cache=friendly

bdfreetuna · Dec 5, 2019

Key sentence here: "[Helmet weareres] also are more likely to hit a tree or fall from a jump."

Majority of skiers who aren't wearing a helmet are gapers, or the occasional old dude who knows his limits. Tree skiing is basically very unsafe without a helmet. If for some reason I forget to bring my helmet, I'll probably still ski without out, but definitely be dialing back my limits and possibly passing on certain terrain I would have otherwise skied.

Also in the 8 years the study took place (2010-2018 ), tree skiing expanded a lot and more people started doing it. How many *more* injuries would there be if these people didn't wear helmets?

The jump part is interesting because I see a lot of fools without helmets getting massive air at places like Carinthia, I would find it hard to believe that a comparison between only "park skiers/riders" would have the same outcome.

jimmywilson69 · Dec 5, 2019

frankly not surprised by this. Everything Tuna says is true, but I also have always questioned whether there was really marked safety improvement with a helmet. Even if its a small improvement its worth it, and it's way warmer than just a hat!

bdfreetuna · Dec 5, 2019

It sure saves me from being whacked in the head by tree branches a lot. Traumatic head injury, maybe not.

I have gone over the handlebars on a mountain bike directly head-into-tree before and I'm pretty sure it would have been serious injury or death given how hard that impact was.

kingslug · Dec 5, 2019

And wacked in the head by the lift bar when someone slams it down..comes in very handy for that.

cdskier · Dec 5, 2019

The problem isn't that helmets aren't helping. The problem is behavior is changing. People are taking more risks in some cases specifically because they think a helmet will prevent serious injuries.

KustyTheKlown · Dec 5, 2019

aside from the tree branches tuna mentioned, i've had one incident where the helmet really saved the day. breck a few years ago, zooming down a groomer back to the lift, turned my head to see how far behind my buddies were, caught an edge without looking and went down so hard. bashed my shoulder and my head. if i didnt have the helmet i'd surely have been concussed. the shoulder got slinged and iced and pain killered and i skied thru the pain the rest of the trip and slept painfully for a month after

bdfreetuna · Dec 5, 2019

KustyTheKlown said:
zooming down a groomer back to the lift, turned my head to see how far behind my buddies were, caught an edge without looking and went down so hard. bashed my shoulder and my head. if i didnt have the helmet i'd surely have been concussed. the shoulder got slinged and iced and pain killered and i skied thru the pain the rest of the trip and slept painfully for a month after

Similar thing happened to me at Jiminy Peak about 10 years ago. Was caught (not)looking at a good clip and hit a randomly placed mogul. Flew for a while and landed on my head and shoulder. Shoulder was dislocated, head was totally fine. I guess that's another time I can thank a helmet, not sure how that would have panned out without one. I know all about that month of painful sleep though!

abc · Dec 5, 2019

decreasing only slightly from 49% to 43%

That's how many skiers?

I'm always skeptical of these "studies". Or at least the journalist interpretation of the studies.

I've NEVER hit my head even once skiing for the several decades before helmets were popular. But then, I never went into trees or did any inverted tricks. So I suspect there really isn't that much head banging in skiing falls by joe average on groomers. Helmet or not, it's really irrelevant for a big portion of the skier population.

But throw in trees and parks, the equation changed. As pointed out by others, a lot more people ski in the trees these days. And I quite often see Moms take a jump here and there when chaperoning their kids! The fact head injury rate "only decrease slightly" may actually be preventing head injuries left and right, saving many more lives than we know how to count?

The increase in head injury related to high speed crash may also be a product of the carving skis. People do tend to ski faster all around, and that's even without straight-lining.

I'm definitely a helmet fan, for myself that is. It's WAY warmer. It's a nice place to keep my goggle, keep branches from hitting my head or losing my hats to them etc. But I'm under no illusion it's going to "save" me if I were to keep making poor decisions.

And if anyone is going to give me grief on a day I forgot my helmet but choose to ski without it? I'm likely to tell them they should just go ahead and piss into their helmet instead!

1dog · Dec 5, 2019

25 years after purchasing a helmet, I take far more chances/risks than I would w/o one.

Tree-skiing has a much more risk-taking advantage with a helmet - my helmet is evidence - scarred/marked/but not broken.

My 1st tree-skiing experience in 1987 at Steamboat - the pretty girl serving us drinks the night before in the ' hardest-to-find-bar in Vail' gondola basement stated "If you're going to Steamboat, remember one thing: trees don't move.'

That's why stats can't be compared. Apples and oranges

mikec142 · Dec 5, 2019

KustyTheKlown said:
aside from the tree branches tuna mentioned, i've had one incident where the helmet really saved the day. breck a few years ago, zooming down a groomer back to the lift, turned my head to see how far behind my buddies were, caught an edge without looking and went down so hard. bashed my shoulder and my head. if i didnt have the helmet i'd surely have been concussed. the shoulder got slinged and iced and pain killered and i skied thru the pain the rest of the trip and slept painfully for a month after

Pretty sure I've mentioned this story before, but I had a similar incident at Okemo on a groomer. Unexpectedly caught an edge, got spun around and the backs of my skis dug in and basically flipped me backwards to the ground. The back of my head hit the ground so hard that it broke my helmet in half. I'm 100% certain that if I hadn't been wearing a helmet, at a bare minimum I would have had a severe concussion or even worse, fractured my skull.

After gathering myself, I skied down to the ski shop at the base of Okemo and bought a new helmet. The guy there said, how much do you want to spend on a new helmet? I handed him my shattered helmet and responded, "as much as possible".

I love to ski the glades, a helmet and goggles are absolutely critical. I've gotten whacked in the face with a branch many times. It doesn't feel good. I can only imagine if the same thing happened and I wasn't wearing goggles.

As a side note, to me, a helmet has become part of the uniform. I wouldn't (intentionally) head to the mountain without my skis or boots or poles...a helmet falls into this category for me.

ceo · Dec 5, 2019

I had to replace a helmet the hard way once, so I'm firmly on Team Helmet. That dent would have been in my head otherwise.

BenedictGomez · Dec 5, 2019

I believe this finding:

helmeted skiers and riders are more likely to experience serious head injuries than those who aren’t wearing helmets.

is misleading due to data-skewing.

The helmet adoptence rate is at the point where virtually the only people not wearing helmets are raw beginners or close to that level, and beginners are not nearly as likely to encounter speeds & terrain typically required for "serious head injury".

kingslug · Dec 5, 2019

In CT they have no motorcycle helmet law..I tried it once when I was 20..blew the lenses out of my sunglasses and was so unbearable that I pulled over and put it back on. I don't see how people do it. With motorcycles the fatality rate goes through the roof without a helmet. At Stowe, I see very few people without one..usually old timers. Last week I saw one go down hard on Liftline when he hit the ice..no helmet but he was OK when I got to him..lucky...

machski · Dec 5, 2019

I'm with Tuna on this, the primary reason I added a helmet was to stop worrying about how low I ducked in the woods! Wasn't for fear of high velocity or force impacts. Though I will say not an hour after I bought my first one, I was thankful I did as I fell hard on hard pack and have a feeling I would have been out cold without it.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using AlpineZone mobile app

abc · Dec 5, 2019

1dog said:
25 years after purchasing a helmet, I take far more chances/risks than I would w/o one.

Tree-skiing has a much more risk-taking advantage with a helmet - my helmet is evidence - scarred/marked/but not broken.

That's why stats can't be compared. Apples and oranges

I've only worn a helmet more like 15 years.

And my buying a helmet comes AFTER I started skiing in trees. Not the other way around. I don't change how I ski with or without helmet.

On the other hand, I LOVE skiing the trees. I just LOVE it! And I KNOW it's more risky. But I aren't going to stop skiing the trees even though it's more risky.

To compensate my taking more risk, I need to add some protection, aka helmet!

There's a cause-and-consequence. Some people take more risk after they put on a helmet. Others take more risk anyway. Putting on a helmet kind of sort of help put that risk back on track of not skiing risky terrain. They would have ski the trees or chutes with or without helmet. For those, I hope helmet helps... because I'm one of them latter type!

tumbler · Dec 5, 2019

I started wearing one because I was sick of my kids asking why I didn't wear one and they did.

BenedictGomez · Dec 5, 2019

abc said:
I LOVE skiing the trees. I just LOVE it! And I KNOW it's more risky. But I aren't going to stop skiing the trees even though it's more risky.

People always say this, but I dont know how true it is.

If you took 2 identical twins with the same solid level of skiing ability, I think the one skiing all day on blue runs would be in more danger of injury than the one skiing in typical trees.

KustyTheKlown · Dec 5, 2019

way more likely to hurt your head going fast on hardpack than tree skiing which naturally checks your speed. the chances of some wild fall putting you headfirst into a tree trunk are slim. in the trees its mostly low hanging branches that can thwack you, but they likely wont cause major injury.

JoeB-Z · Dec 5, 2019

Three years ago I hooked a completely hidden bowed branch under 12" of fresh snow with both skis on a marked gladed run. I just went flying in a full superman position. If I hit a tree with my head maybe a helmet would have saved me. As it was, I landed "safely" and destroyed my right shoulder. I just wouldn't ski without a helmet. And at 64 I'm unfortunately done with trees.

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