When a helmet isn't enough

[lionelhutz]

That's scary...rest up. Don't rattle that cage for a while.

[baseWeldr]

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...hot?highlight=
Edit to add heal up IG & thx for reminding me of a long forgotten post, Ive always contended I wear one more for my family than for myself- all good on the down but sure would be handy if they could stuff into a pocket sometimes...I certainly never apres in the thing it ain't that comfy...

[llyon]

Helmates don't do crap for Blunt force trama. There all about glancing blows/indirect hits.

So quoth the Lou. http://www.wildsnow.com/4713/ski-helmets-backcountry/

Any thoughts on this Inspector Gadget? Sounds like you would have had a smashed skull as well as a concussion without a helmet.

Ignore if this is not the place for a helmet discussion... vibes and heal up dude.

[BDKeg]

So quoth the Lou. http://www.wildsnow.com/4713/ski-helmets-backcountry/

Any thoughts on this Inspector Gadget? Sounds like you would have had a smashed skull as well as a concussion without a helmet.

Ignore if this is not the place for a helmet discussion... vibes and heal up dude.

I think it's safe to say there would have been a LOT more damage if not wearing a helmet. Obviously nothing is going to protect you if you're going 30+ MPH head first straight into a tree, just like an airbag in a car won't save your ass if you wrap yourself around a pole going 80+ mph. Lou has a point, but a helmet is just another safety device to better your odds in a worst case scenario just like an avalung or airbag pack would be in the backcountry, so sometimes you gotta ask yourself "why not?"

Take it easy and heal up. +++vibes

[puma]

Scary story. Rest up, and make sure it does not happen again anytime soon.

I LOVE my helmet and would not consider riding without it. To much momentum at play on the slopes!!!

[wolfelot]

Several other people mentioned something about pros frequently not wearing helmets. I too find this a troubling bad example.

[Buster Highmen]

Bummoir, d00d. Reminds me of lofting a massive air into a sidehill near GadII; hurlfest delirium.

On the bright side, now you too will have an excuse for your behavior!

[powdork]

from lou's article

When your head hits an object, the likelihood of concussion can be measured in G force of the deceleration. You get a possible concussion at 95 g’s, certain concussion at 150 g’s, and serious injury or death at 275 g’s.

This study found that if the impact is onto a soft-snow surface, both the measured g-loads (under 100 g) and the computed HIC values (less than 220) are well within acceptable limits regardless of whether or not a helmet is used. When the impact was onto simulated hard, icy snow, the helmet reduced the average measured g-load from 329 to 162, and the HIC value from 2,235 to 965. When the impact was against the fixed object, the helmet reduced the values from 696 to 333, and the HIC from 12,185 to 3,299.

seems like this is exactly what could have happened to inspectorg. he hit hard icy snow and his helmet reduced the g-force from somewhere in or near the certain death level to the concussion level.
seems like a no-brainer to me.

[TomCrac]

@ Scottyb .... Oh yeah, they've been out on the market for quite sometime....Its amazing how persuasive they can be when your head is spinning.

@ biff .... When I was a kid, I was out skateboarding, Nobody wore helmets then, I don't think they even had skate specific helmets yet (yeah, I'm that old...) anyways, tumbled on me head, very similar experience as InspectorGadget. When I was in the hospital, for 2 days, what ever meds they wanted to give me wouldn't stay down due to constant vomiting (maybe the worst headache I ever had in my life) soooo.... enter the suppositories , pun intended, .... wasnt my favorite experience. Ended up wearing a hockey helmet for a while, lots of my friends made fun of me. Ever since then helmets seemed to make a lot of sense to me......Pray for snow.

[chatton18]

Never broken a ski helmet, but I busted up a bike helmet when my front wheel slipped off a wet ladder biking this year and i went head first into a rock. Helmet cracked in half but i was fine. While it is a massive pain in the ass, if you want to be careful a mouth guard can make a huge difference in the concussion vs no concussion situation as well.

Hope you have a quick recovery, but err on the side of caution. Concussions are a funny thing and can take a long tiem to heal up.

[hutash]

I have been cycling for far too long, back before helmets even existed, except for those leather strap things. Even when all the evidence showed how important it was to wear a helmet no one did because the pros didn't so why should I. Fortunately USCF required helmets to race a long time ago, but still few trained wearing helmets. The euro pros did wear helmets, so why should I, except when required to race.

Finally UCI woke up to the fact that helmets are simply a smart thing to wear. And guess what? Now nearly everybody wears a helmet all the time. I won't let a person ride in our club peleton without one, and I don't remember the last time I saw a serious cyclist without one.

All pro ski and snowboard associations should require them. I suspect we will see a requirement at our local hills requiring a helmet to ride the lift. I am a little surprised it hasn't happened yet, although Nova Scotia seems close.

Bottom line...don't be that idiot riding, skiing, boarding, skating, et al, with out a lid just to be cool. Being brain dead with tubes shoved up every orifice is much less cool.

[NatEE]

Hope you heal fast Gadget! Hopefully there will be a nice blanket of natural impact reducer for you by the time you're ready to get out and ski again.

The whole helmet debate was pretty much summed up for me by a co-worker who said "dude, my livelihood is not in jeopardy if I blow out a knee". I have spent way more time, effort and money improving my brain than any other organ in my body, and by any analysis it's the most important. If we're willing to spend $200+ possibly protecting knees, and dealing with the imperfect products that most binding systems are, why would we not do the same for our noggins?

That said, I really wish there was more push towards improving helmets. It seems to happen gradually, but more transparency in the standards and improvements would be nice. SNELL seems like a great organization, and have certainly driven improvement in motorsport helmets. I wish there was an org like that for skiing/biking. Really, it should be an advantage for good manufacturers as well, since I would gladly replace my helmet more often if there were documented improvements in the level of protection.

[Alaskan Rover]

Never broken a ski helmet, but I busted up a bike helmet when my front wheel slipped off a wet ladder biking this year and i went head first into a rock. Helmet cracked in half but i was fine. While it is a massive pain in the ass, if you want to be careful a mouth guard can make a huge difference in the concussion vs no concussion situation as well.

You DO realize how lucky you are to be alive, don't you???

I have to admit that heretofore I've been ambivalent about 100% helmet usage.

I have an old Petzl caving/climbing helmet that is small and lightweight that I that I use for pretty much ALL endeavors when I think I need a helmet. Things like ice-climbing I'd never even think of not using a helmet...same with the limited amount of rock-climbing I do on occasion...same with glacier travel, etc. Those pursuits are helmet-mandatory pursuits. I even use that same caver's hemet for white-water...another helmet mandatory thing.

Granted, a cave/climb helmet is not the best for ALL pursuits....but it seems to be the best design for MANY....so that I don't need like 6 different helmets.

But here's the thing....I often don't use my helmet for recreational boarding or AT skiing unless I KNOW I'm going to be encountering some rocky, nasty chutes...then I don the helmet. But ONLY when in rocks. That is a habit that can be deadly. I generally dislike wearing a helmet for recreational snow travel or mountain biking NOT because a helmet is uncomfortable, mine is PLENTY comfortable....but simply for reasons of not liking to carry extra gear. Silly silly silly, I know.

Reading your post, brings it home the need to wear my helmet (yes...prolly the same helmet) for ALL my pursuits. I'm going to really try to change my ways.

--

[ArmadaBC]

I got blown up a few years back by a dbag's elbow playing hockey. I'll never forget being at the hospital and being totally unable to sign my name. I knew my name, I knew how to write and could make the letters if they weren't connected but the series of moves that make up a signature were just totally gone from my brain.

[biff chalupa]

@ Scottyb .... Oh yeah, they've been out on the market for quite sometime....Its amazing how persuasive they can be when your head is spinning.

@ biff .... When I was a kid, I was out skateboarding, Nobody wore helmets then, I don't think they even had skate specific helmets yet (yeah, I'm that old...) anyways, tumbled on me head, very similar experience as InspectorGadget. When I was in the hospital, for 2 days, what ever meds they wanted to give me wouldn't stay down due to constant vomiting (maybe the worst headache I ever had in my life) soooo.... enter the suppositories , pun intended, .... wasnt my favorite experience. Ended up wearing a hockey helmet for a while, lots of my friends made fun of me. Ever since then helmets seemed to make a lot of sense to me......Pray for snow.

Yikes. I already wear a helmet, but if I didn't, your unpleasant experience would surely be enough motivation to start. Thanks for the new signature, it's a gem when read out of context.

[InspectorGadget]

The rule in the Gadget house is you are wearing a helmet if you're on snow or wheels, e.g., skis, snowboard, skateboard, bicycle, motorcycle, etc.

TomCrac - thanks for sharing.

from lou's article

When your head hits an object, the likelihood of concussion can be measured in G force of the deceleration. You get a possible concussion at 95 g’s, certain concussion at 150 g’s, and serious injury or death at 275 g’s.

This study found that if the impact is onto a soft-snow surface, both the measured g-loads (under 100 g) and the computed HIC values (less than 220) are well within acceptable limits regardless of whether or not a helmet is used. When the impact was onto simulated hard, icy snow, the helmet reduced the average measured g-load from 329 to 162, and the HIC value from 2,235 to 965. When the impact was against the fixed object, the helmet reduced the values from 696 to 333, and the HIC from 12,185 to 3,299.

seems like this is exactly what could have happened to inspectorg. he hit hard icy snow and his helmet reduced the g-force from somewhere in or near the certain death level to the concussion level.
seems like a no-brainer to me.

Thanks powdork, I was just about to post the same information. Had I not been wearing a helmet, I have little doubt I would have been getting my head perforated like Powstash, thanks for the reminder Trackhead. Or worse, I would be eating through a feeding tube or dead.

I wear a helmet for the following reasons: it's warmer than any hat I've ever owned; it doesn't itch like just about every hat I've ever owned; finally, and most importantly, it is safer than any hat I've ever owned. Back when I had hair, I loved the feel of the breeze rushing through my hair whether I was on my bicycle, motorcycle or skis. Now I feel like I should do what I can to mitigate risk - we all should, but that's another story. The safety argument is the same as wearing your seat belt; say what you will about seat belts, but they save lives every day. If you choose not to wear a helmet or your seatbelt, that is certainly your prerogative, but I think you're a dumb ass. No need for arguments, that is my opinion.

I could buy a less expensive helmet, but as the Bell helmet advertisements used to say "If you have a $10 head, buy a $10 helmet". My head is worth more than $10 and so is yours. My next helmet will be a Poc Receptor Backcountry because it uses MIPS technology. It's not available with MIPS technology yet or I would definitely buy the Synapsis 2.0.

Like I said, be safe out there.

[Alaskan Rover]

I'm starting to think of it this way now:

back in my youth, of course I was both invincible and indestructable...we didn't even wear helmets for hockey on the pond....NO ONE would have dared!

And then, as got older, I used to think, well, I've been lucky so far...so why not continue....because, of course, I'll ALWAYS be lucky.

Then I got to thinking that cemetaries and brain trauma centers are littered with people who have had those same thoughts, played that same roulette, and turned out to be UNLUCKY...they smply lost that hand.

When I was 14, I skied at high speed off of a lip of a narrow ski run (I missed a turn). Because it was a lip at a turn, I got a whole lot of air accidently...and was flying through the trees w/ my skis about 4 feet in the air. There was this sawed off large tree limb that about 8 inches in diameter right at face height...and sticking out an an angle. The limb missed the side of my face by no more than 1 inch. How do I know that?? Because the side of my goggles was totally obliterated and almost burned by the impact.

That's how close I was to instant death. I kept that pair of destroyed goggles for a long time after that.

But did I change to wearing a helmet?? Certainly not!! Wasn't cool back then. Only "feebs" wore helmets back then.

That was then. Glad to see things have changed. As I get older, I have different ideas about luck and invincibility now. Sometimes lady luck needs a hand.

For the most part, I don't like those huge full-face downhill helmets.....but I sorta like this one:



--

[BigDaddy]

But did I change to wearing a helmet?? Certainly not!! Wasn't cool back then. Only "feebs" wore helmets back then.

--

True... I wore one.

In the 70's.


Glad you're good IG.

[Ivan Oder]

See stuff like this patrolling all the time. We call it the ground hog day loop.

skier with concussion: What happened?
me: You fell and hit your head
<five minutes later>
skier with concussion: What happened?
me: You fell and hit your head.
<repeat until ambulance shows up>

[InspectorGadget]

We call it the ground hog day loop.

That would explain why I kept hearing I got you babe.

[Super G]

I am grateful for the job my now broken Smith Variant Brim helmet did to protect my head. I can't imagine what would have happened to my noggin had I not been wearing a helmet.
Be safe out there.

Inspector Gadget, I am so glad you are going to be ok. Send me a PM and I will send you a new Smith Helmet. Get well soon because this winter is just starting up and you need to get back to having the time of your life.

[InspectorGadget]

Inspector Gadget, I am so glad you are going to be ok. Send me a PM and I will send you a new Smith Helmet. Get well soon because this winter is just starting up and you need to get back to having the time of your life.

Wow, Christmas comes early!

[bushman]

Nice, really nice. ^^^^

[ill-advised strategy]

Concussions are such a weird altered state.

Groundhog day is a weird thing and nothing says you've injured your brain like 50 rounds of "hey, what's going on? You crashed your motorcycle and we're going to the hospital. Was it cool? Yeah it was pretty cool......Hey, what's going on? You crashed your motorcycle dude. Was it cool? yeah, it was pretty cool.....hey what's going on?"

Glad you're mostly ok dood.

[G]

Glad you're okay.


My helmet story:
Cruising blue groomers last year with the GF. I had just bought her a nice, new Giro helmet a few weeks earlier. She caught her heelside edge and went over backwards, and cracked the back of her head on the snow. The fall broke the back of the helmet right off.

She was hurting for weeks, felt shitty for months after that.
Had she not worn a helmet that day, things would have been really bad.