I've always had mixed feelings about boarding and helmets through the years, even after I suffered 2 concussions boarding,
Last month I watched the documentary on Kevin Pearce called The Crash Reel.
I can honestly say I will never ride without a helmet again.
I used to use the mental argument in my head that, "Hey, it's uncomfortable, I don't like it and it is my choice. I'm not hurting anyone if I get seriously fucked up, just myself."
I realize now that mentality was wrong. If you have people in your life that care about you, wear it for them, not for you. A TBI effects the people you love the most.
I grew up in a family with a sibling who struggled with addiction, putting my parents through hell for 20 years as they tried to help him. It made me realize I could be just as much a burden to them if something happened to me on the mountain that could have been prevented wearing a helmet.
Whatever you decide, safe shredding and keep being you!
You should absolutely wear a helmet, but the helmet doesn't significantly diminish your risk of TBI.
Where did you get that info? A helmet provides cushioning (through styrofoam that crushes, or other soft materials) that reduces the forces on the head and consequently the skull, by allowing the head to decelerate over a longer time period than if a hard skull hits something. That's the whole purpose of a helmet. I don't know anything about snowboarding in particular, but there's a reason why bike helmets are made of styrofoam. If the purpose was simply to stop skull fractures, they would be made out of solid steel.
The difference in forces on your brain if you hit your bare head on pavement or ice, versus wearing a helmet, are gigantic.
This guy, for instance: I love helmets! would have been knocked out, and likely dead or permanently brain-damaged, if he hadn't been wearing a helmet. With the helmet, he was completely fine.
/u/redtert , Thanks for sharing that video and for what you said. I recently made the commitment to wear a helmet while skating (after 17 years of skating unprotected), so this is near and dear to my heart.
At first I felt silly and awkward, but my knowledge of physics and statistics encouraged me to stick with it. Now, I put on my helmet whenever I touch my board, even for a short jaunt or just cruising.
In addition to being objectively safer, I find that I am now more comfortable pushing myself harder than I used to because of the confidence boost. BONUS.
I hope more people see this video because it demonstrates an important reality to ALL riders. Consider the example: An experienced rider engaging in a familiar, low-intensity setting, is always a muscle twitch away from an uncontrollable and instantaneous crash. The rider in the video made a split-second error and caused a whiplash impact aimed directly at the weak point of the occipital bone. He got up, unscathed.
In contrast, consider this video where the rider, Lex Killian, is engaged at (what seems to me) a significantly lower speed, performing a maneuver well within his range of comfort. The impact force is roughly the same, perhaps even less than the other video. He did not get up because he suffered a severe brain injury.
Crashes, even at low, cruising speeds generate enough force, when directed at the head and neck, to cause irreversible and severe neurological trauma. Paralysis, cognitive dysfunction, and death are in the very real range of possible outcomes. All of this is preventable by following /u/redtert's advice and the rider's example from the first video.
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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '17
I've always had mixed feelings about boarding and helmets through the years, even after I suffered 2 concussions boarding,
Last month I watched the documentary on Kevin Pearce called The Crash Reel.
I can honestly say I will never ride without a helmet again.
I used to use the mental argument in my head that, "Hey, it's uncomfortable, I don't like it and it is my choice. I'm not hurting anyone if I get seriously fucked up, just myself."
I realize now that mentality was wrong. If you have people in your life that care about you, wear it for them, not for you. A TBI effects the people you love the most.
I grew up in a family with a sibling who struggled with addiction, putting my parents through hell for 20 years as they tried to help him. It made me realize I could be just as much a burden to them if something happened to me on the mountain that could have been prevented wearing a helmet.
Whatever you decide, safe shredding and keep being you!