Bill Jennings: Helmet use grows while statistics stay the same

About 15 years ago, helmets emerged as a growing presence on the slopes.

I resisted. Back then, riding a bike without a helmet was out of the question for me. But I couldn’t wrap my head around protecting my brain while I traveled downhill on skis, often at much higher speeds than I would on wheels.

One day after a reckless drop through the trees, a friend warned me that if I kept skiing like that without a helmet, “Someone would be changing my diapers.” I thought his comment was pretty funny. By the end of the day, it had provoked some serious thought. A traumatic brain injury is no joke.

Not long after that bout of soul searching, I joined about 25 percent of the skiers and riders who wore helmets at the time. Surprisingly, my new helmet was much better than a hat in a lot of ways. It was much warmer, built to integrate with goggles and was so light I didn’t realize it was on my head, until a low hanging limb that could have scalped me thwacked harmlessly against the shell.

In the seasons since, helmets have become de rigueur. According to the National Ski Area Association (NSAA), 73 percent of skiers and riders were wearing them as of last season. Since the 2002-03 season, helmet use has nearly tripled, with usage rates increasing by 180 percent. As common as helmets have become, a quarter of the skiers and riders out there believe the risk for head injury is too small to worry about.

It’s true that the chances of suffering a traumatic brain injury on the slopes are slim. Based on the last 10 years, NSAA research shows an average of 50 catastrophic injuries each year at U.S. ski resorts. Catastrophic injuries are defined as forms of paralysis, broken necks or broken backs, and life-altering severe head injuries.

Guest visits during this same period averaged 57.4 million annually, a rate of 0.87 catastrophic injuries per million skier visits. In the 2013-14 season, with 56.5 million skier visits and 52 catastrophic injuries, there were 0.92 catastrophic injuries per million visits.

The NSAA’s data suggests the odds of permanently scrambling your brains on the slopes are less than 1 in 1 million. What’s more, despite the increase in helmet use, the association said the number of snow sports-related fatalities or serious brain injuries has not decreased. The issue has also been raised that a helmet doesn’t offer enough protection to make a difference.

Michael Schumacher, the former German Formula One champion, suffered a traumatic brain injury last winter after breaking his helmet on the rocks in Meribel, France. Schumacher was reportedly skiing slowly on his way to help a child that had fallen when he clipped a rock that sent him head first into another. While his helmet may have kept the rock from penetrating his skull, it couldn’t reduce the sudden deceleration that causes most brain injuries.

The only thing that will protect your brain is reducing the rate of deceleration that occurs when your head, traveling at let’s say 20 mph, goes to zero mph in an impact. When this happens, your brain bounces violently off the inside of your skull, to traumatic effect. A helmet is designed to slow that abrupt change in speed with the crushing of the foam inside the shell.

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ATSM) certifies helmets sold in the U.S. for safety. A product fails the ATSM test if an instrument placed within it detects a deceleration greater than 300 g (the brain’s threshold for permanent damage) when the helmet hits an anvil at 14 mph.

Your ATSM-certified helmet probably won’t prevent a concussion. But if you limit your speed to less than 14 mph, you may not have to learn to walk and talk again should you hit a tree. Most skiers and snowboarders are likely to exceed that speed limit.

Unless a practical technological breakthrough is developed, it could be impossible to design a helmet that can keep you truly safe. The research to date doesn’t indicate the increase in helmet use has made any difference, either.

These facts won’t change my mind. I’ll continue wearing my helmet, because at this point I would feel naked and exposed without one. But I’ll probably keep any comments about wearing diapers to myself.