Ski Helmets?

its a problem we all face.....sigh

tino_11 wrote:its a problem we all face.....sigh

Excluding Slapheads. Do they have an unfair advantage :mrgreen:

they go faster lol

tino_11 wrote:they go faster lol

Only if they get polishing though :lol:

I practically started a row on the forum last year with this posting about whether you could use safely bicycle helmets (assuming that you have no shame of course):

http://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/3419.page

I remember it well :D

What a brilliantly entertaining read!

I love Ise's idea about a really thick woolly hat. With a bobble on it.

Note to self - get one and Tony_H can stop his "dog with no ears" rubbish

)

Ok, it’s not possible for me to refrain from joining in any more ;)

Here’s the thing, you (as a sentient adult) should “almost certainly” wear a helmet when doing any of the following:

• Ski Racing – From Slalom to Downhill, Skiercross or any other form of closed course alpine event.
• Skiing Off Piste – From full on backcountry to just down the edge of the piste and everywhere in-between.
• Any kind of aerials (inverted or not).
• Skiing in a resort new to you.

It takes no imagination to realise that impact with hard objects on (in my case) soft skulls will always result in high volumes of Claret!

But here’s the sting in the tale …

Here are some times when I suggest wearing a helmet could be real liability:

• ALL Children aged about 3yrs – 15yrs whilst in Ski School.
• Children aged about 3yrs – 15yrs whilst not in Ski School, depending on ability, activity and supervision level.
• When skiing with friends / family on piste in a resort known to you.
• In a nightclub!

Now I know that poor Mr Admin will have to invest in some more disk space to deal with the arguments that this post will inevitably bring but here is my reasoning:

Point 1. - Young children have heads that are disproportionately larger than their bodies which means that in simple maths terms their helmets weigh more in proportion to their body weight than is true for adults.

Point 2. – Young childrens’s muscles and neck structures are proportionally weaker and softer than that of an adult. (1)

Point 3. – “Standard” helmets are great at protecting skulls from impact collisions with hard objects.

Point 4 – “Standard” helmets are poor at protecting faces against full frontal abrasion.

Point 5 – Most helmets limit vision and spatial awareness.

Point 6 – Most helmets limit auditory awareness.

Point 7 – Most children (people) adopt an attitude of immortality and demonstrate a reduced ability to accurately access danger when provided with enhanced safety equipment. (2)

I’m not going to join the dots for you but what I would suggest is that there are a substantial number of situations where real consideration should be given to the balance between the benefits to be gained from wearing a helmet and the problems that their use may bring. Ok, ok, I will just join a few dots to illustrate my point. Let’s start by considering a child of 4 in “Ski School” or “Ski Kindergarten”. If we think about points 1 & 2, mix in some point 4 and then blend points 5 & 6 to a smooth consistency – What do we end up with? A child who is potentially at an elevated risk of neck injury, who may not be able to hear and see instructions from their instructor and who is more likely to fall flat on their face than hit a hard object at high speed.

Like everything in life there are very few times when you get something for nothing. The compensation culture has driven a move towards “protection” at all costs and the Pavlovian (not our Pavel but the Classical Learning Theorist) response of wearing helmets in all situations! I suggest that this response needs to be tempered with a good old fashioned dollop of parental juggling. Educate yourselves about the risk and act in whatever way you feel most appropriate.

In case this is all getting a little boring - Just for fun try to help me understand why there is no requirement to wear helmets at (most) ice rinks? Today, I rang “The Worlds Largest Ice Rink” in Blaine, MN, USA (www.superrink.org) and was told that there was no requirement to wear helmets for adults or children. When I asked if I could hire (rent) a helmet they put me on hold “to check” and after some time they told me I could “maybe rent something for kids but, for sure, not for grown-ups!” … Kinda odd hu? Especially considering that you are far more likely to sustain a head injury ice skating than skateboarding (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/114/1/124) where helmet use is almost universally observed … Go figure!

Finally, I can introduce one interesting piece of “evidence” for your consideration. In ESY 2003-4 there was at least one LEA in the UK that explicitly prohibited the use of helmets for school children whilst abroad on snow in “ski schools” whilst under the responsibility of the LEA. The Chief Physical Education Officer for that county submitted a detailed paper to the governing body of skiing in England stating many of the issues I raise above.

Having re-read the above paragraph it does sound rather officious, sorry :oops: but I’ll leave it in just to add some gravitas to this thread )

I look forward to all discussion from here on in!

Jan

(1) - http://www.smf.org/articles/pdf/choptrauma.pdf
(2) - http://www.lidsonkids.org/ski-or-snowboard-as-if-youre-not-wearing-one.asp

Further Reading:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/02/04/ski-helmets050204.html

http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/News/Helmets-for-injury-prevention.aspx?articleID=8084&categoryID=news-poh6