{"id":1006,"date":"2010-02-23T10:32:44","date_gmt":"2010-02-23T09:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=1006"},"modified":"2010-02-23T12:35:09","modified_gmt":"2010-02-23T11:35:09","slug":"helen-jaques-halfpipes-and-helmets-how-olympic-athletes-could-reduce-head-injuries-in-skiers-and-snowboarders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2010\/02\/23\/helen-jaques-halfpipes-and-helmets-how-olympic-athletes-could-reduce-head-injuries-in-skiers-and-snowboarders\/","title":{"rendered":"Helen Jaques: Halfpipes and helmets – how Olympic athletes could reduce head injuries in skiers and snowboarders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HelenThe Winter Olympics this year in Vancouver have been particularly gripping, and not just for the close finishes on lots of the events. Thanks to the poor conditions<\/a>, even the best skiers and snowboarders in the world have been crashing out in this year\u2019s games. <\/p>\n

Swedish skier Patrik J\u00e4erbyn had a truly horrifying crash and earned himself a concussion in the men\u2019s super G<\/a>, and world champion snowboarder Max Schairer of Austria<\/a> likewise sustained a concussion in the snowboardcross semifinals.<\/p>\n

And so from this wince inducing list of\u00a0accidents in the elite to the issue of head injury in recreational skiers and snowboarders.<\/p>\n

Back in 2000, head injuries made up 3-15% of all skiing and snowboarding<\/a> related injuries, with more recent studies suggesting that 15-20% of ski and snowboard related injuries are traumatic brain injuries<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019re not just talking mild concussion here. A cross sectional survey <\/a>found that of Colorado residents who sustained a head injury while skiing between 1994 and 1997, 24% sustained skull fracture, 39% had intracranial lesions, and 79% had amnesia. In fact, traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of death<\/a> and catastrophic injury in both skiers and snowboarders.<\/p>\n

Wearing a helmet while skiing or snowboarding, however, is thought to reduce the risk of head injury in an accident by anything from 29%<\/a>\u00a0to 60%.<\/p>\n

There have been concerns about whether wearing a helmet increases the risk of neck trauma, as the helmet itself might bend or twist the neck in an otherwise \u201croutine\u201d fall. However, several studies, including a meta-analysis published this month in the Canadian Medical Association Journal<\/a>, have shown that helmet use is not associated with an increased risk of neck injury.<\/p>\n

Despite the clear benefits of wearing a helmet while on the slopes, a recent commentary<\/a> in the Journal of the American Medical Association<\/em>\u00a0by neurologist Michael Cusimano and injury prevention researcher Judith Kwok has pointed out that helmet use among recreational skiers is low.<\/p>\n

They cite an observational study<\/a> of kids aged 5-17 years in a western New York ski resort that found that only 42% of skiers and 32% of snowboarders wore a helmet. Another study<\/a> of 19 ski resorts in Colorado discovered that although 2% to 38% of skiers and snowboarders rented equipment in resort, only 1% to 8.6% of renters also rented helmets.<\/p>\n

Cusimano and Kwok suggest several measures to increase helmet use among skiers and snowboarders, such as creating incentives\u00a0like discounts on helmets and including helmets in all ski equipment rental packages.<\/p>\n

Another proposal from the authors is to use role models to promote the use of helmets and change ski resort culture. Ski patrollers, for example, could serve as role models for helmet use, but a study<\/a> of almost 100 patrollers found that only 23% wore a helmet, despite the fact that 90% believed wearing a helmet would protect them from injury.<\/p>\n

However, anyone who has been following the Olympics must\u2019ve spotted by now that all the competitors wear helmets. The F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de Ski<\/a>, which is in charge of the ski and snowboard events at the Winter Olympics, insists that that all snowsports competitors wear a helmet, for official training as well as for races<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With big names like gold medallist snowboarder Shaun White and downhill ski champion Lindsay Vonn in helmets, hopefully leisure skiers and snowboarders worldwide will start to get the message. What this issue needs now is people of this stature to get behind an awareness campaign.<\/p>\n

As Cusimano and Kwok say, \u201cThe 2010 Winter Olympics should mark the beginning of a new culture in skiing and snowboarding.\u201d<\/p>\n