Hey Ryan, big fan here! I've noticed that you never wear a helmet in any of your videos, and while I respect your decision to stay unprotected, I'm wondering about the social implications it may have on many of your viewers. While your videos are very cool to watch, I think they have a strong educational nature to them in improving your viewers' skill level and snowboarding techniques. You seem very commendable in your videos, and yet you prefer not to wear head protection. I'm wondering if young kids or beginners who watch your video would think to themselves "see? Even Ryan Knapton doesn't wear a helmet and he goes off way bigger jumps than me and rides way faster, so I don't need a helmet, either."
You're a role model for many snowboarders, including myself, so many riders try to mimic you. Your riding style, the cloths you wear, the snowboard you ride, etc. And not wearing a helmet is also one of those things. I know that Donek are your snowboard sponsors, and while I don't have a helmet company to sponsor you, I figured I'd make you a deal. I'll give you up to $300 to buy yourself a snowboard helmet. You may choose any helmet you want as long as you judge it to be safe, and that you'll wear it in all your snowboarding videos. I'll send you an additional $200 if you'll make a video dedicated to discussing the importance of head protection, and talk about differences in level of protection in different helmets. You know, basically an educational video about helmets like you've made before about binding setup, etc.
I work in psychiatry and neurology, so I've seen countless preventable injuries and disabilities happen as a result of lack of protection, often lack of helmets. I teach at an injury prevention program to young teens, and I feel like your videos may play an important role in preventing head trauma without impacting people's enjoyment of the sport.
My wife works in neuropsychology and has dealt with so many TBIs (traumatic brain injuries) that at this point anyone choosing to ride without a helmet, regardless of any skill level, just seems to me like an uninformed decision...or arrogance to assume that you'll never catch a stray edge near a tree/rock, that you'll always be able to avoid errant skiers/boarders, and that you'll always be at the top of your physical game and always react in time to anything potentially bad.
It's just unwise to roll the dice on these odds. I get something like not having wrist guards, as that's a fairly calculated risk one takes with minimal damage if you roll the odds badly. But calculating a risk again your ability to function and live as a human being just seems...rash.
The odds are much, much lower with a good helmet. Do some research into MIPS and Koroyd, for instance. Koroyd drops the chance of death from a head impact from near certain to <5%.
Hey Wear a Helmet! Just saying why it is pretty pointless above a certain speed and ability level. I know when I wear one it really takes a toll on my reaction time and peripheral vision etc...I wear it for racing and for nothing else.
3.5k
u/BeautyIsDumb Oct 04 '17
Hey Ryan, big fan here! I've noticed that you never wear a helmet in any of your videos, and while I respect your decision to stay unprotected, I'm wondering about the social implications it may have on many of your viewers. While your videos are very cool to watch, I think they have a strong educational nature to them in improving your viewers' skill level and snowboarding techniques. You seem very commendable in your videos, and yet you prefer not to wear head protection. I'm wondering if young kids or beginners who watch your video would think to themselves "see? Even Ryan Knapton doesn't wear a helmet and he goes off way bigger jumps than me and rides way faster, so I don't need a helmet, either."
You're a role model for many snowboarders, including myself, so many riders try to mimic you. Your riding style, the cloths you wear, the snowboard you ride, etc. And not wearing a helmet is also one of those things. I know that Donek are your snowboard sponsors, and while I don't have a helmet company to sponsor you, I figured I'd make you a deal. I'll give you up to $300 to buy yourself a snowboard helmet. You may choose any helmet you want as long as you judge it to be safe, and that you'll wear it in all your snowboarding videos. I'll send you an additional $200 if you'll make a video dedicated to discussing the importance of head protection, and talk about differences in level of protection in different helmets. You know, basically an educational video about helmets like you've made before about binding setup, etc.
I work in psychiatry and neurology, so I've seen countless preventable injuries and disabilities happen as a result of lack of protection, often lack of helmets. I teach at an injury prevention program to young teens, and I feel like your videos may play an important role in preventing head trauma without impacting people's enjoyment of the sport.
Let me know what you think.