What doctors/researchers think about wearing a helmet.

If you want to read about the benefit of wearing a helmet while
riding a bicycle, all you have to do is research the matter.

Go here.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed

Enter something like this.

"Head injury" helmet bicycle

If you have never used a search engine before, please note that you
can change the words to produce different results.

For example, the following are results for this search criteria.

"Head injury" helmet bicycle children

(I condensed the summaries for most of the articles.)




J Clin Neurosci. 2004 Feb;11(2):126-9.

Helmet wearing ... essential for the prevention of head injury.


Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2003 Oct;42(8):673-7.

Helmet use protects against head injury.


Inj Prev. 2003 Sep;9(3):266-7.

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, UK...
The wearing of a cycle helmet is estimated to prevent 60% of head
injuries.


Ugeskr Laeger. 2002 Oct 28;164(44):5115-9.

Helmets offer bicyclists aged 0-15 years protection against head
injury.


Online J Knowl Synth Nurs. 2002 Mar 25;9:1. Print 2002 Mar 25.

Current research continues to show that bicycle helmets prevent
serious injury and death in cyclists of all ages. Children are at
special risk for head injury.


Arch Pediatr. 2001 Nov;8(11):1246-50.

All five conclude in favor of the effectiveness of the bicycle
helmet even when taking bias into account.


Accident Analysis & Prevention. 2001 May;33(3):345-52.

In conclusion, the evidence is clear that bicycle helmets prevent
serious injury and even death.


Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2000 Jun 30;120(17):1955-9.

BACKGROUND: Bicycle helmets prevent head injury in bicycle riders...
RESULTS: ... If every rider used a helmet, about 1,600 head injuries
would be avoided every year, of these, 800 among children aged 0-
14... INTERPRETATIONS: There is a significant health improvement
potential in promoting bicycle helmets in Norway


Semin Neurol. 2000;20(2):247-53.

Helmet usage and common sense would lower the number of serious head
trauma cases by 50%.


Inj Prev. 1998 Jun;4(2):122-5.

More than 70% of injured bicyclists reported no helmet use. The
proportion of admissions of injured bicyclists who did not use
helmets was always higher than the proportion of admissions of those
who used helmets (OR = 2.23, CI = 1.39 to 3.62). Head and face
injuries occurred more often among those who did not use helmets.


JAMA. 1996 Dec 25;276(24):1968-73.

CONCLUSIONS: Bicycle helmets, regardless of type, provide
substantial protection against head injuries for cyclists of all
ages involved in crashes, including crashes involving motor
vehicles.


Pediatrics. 1996 Nov;98(5):868-70.

RESULTS: An average of 247 traumatic brain injury deaths and 140,000
head injuries among children and adolescents younger than 20 years
were related to bicycle crashes each year in the United States. As
many as 184 deaths and 116,000 head injuries might have been
prevented annually if these riders had worn helmets.


Clin J Sport Med. 1996 Apr;6(2):102-7.

RESULTS... The risk of serious head injury was significantly greater
when a helmet was not worn... CONCLUSIONS. Helmets afford a
protective effect with respect to serious head injuries.


Unfallchirurg. 1996 Mar;99(3):202-6.

It is remarkable that more serious head injuries did not occur in
the helmet group... In our opinion the bicycle helmet can reduce the
incidence and the grade severity of head injuries significantly...


South Med J. 1996 Feb;89(2):218-20.

This study indicates that when safety measures such as restraint
systems, helmets, or proper supervision are ignored, children may
die as a result of trauma.


Sports Med. 1995 Nov;20(5):348-62.

It is estimated that up to 85% of all cycling fatalities caused by
head injuries could be prevented by the use of an appropriate
cycling helmet.


J Trauma. 1995 Jun;38(6):871-5.

Although it is urgent to increase helmet use substantially by child
bicyclists, special attention should be paid to high-risk groups,
such as children with mental disorders and children who are likely
to ride in traffic.


Conn Med. 1995 Jan;59(1):3-9.

Bicycle-related head injury is an important cause of mortality and
morbidity of Connecticut children and youth and is largely
preventable through the use of bicycle helmets.


CMAJ. 1995 Jan 1;152(1):45-53.

CONCLUSIONS: Bicycle-related deaths result from factors that are
generally avoidable. Identifiable risk factors other than lack of
helmet use...


BMJ. 1994 Jun 11;308(6943):1537-40.

CONCLUSION--The findings...confirm protective effect of helmet
wearing for any bicycle accident.


Pediatrics. 1994 Apr;93(4):567-9.

Helmet use among school-aged children increased from 5.5% in 1987 to
40.2% in 1992. Bicycle-related head injuries decreased by 66.6% in
5- to 9-year-old and 67.6% in 10- to 14-year-old members of an
health maintenance organization.


Public Health Rep. 1994 Mar-Apr;109(2):296-301.

Bicycle helmet use in the United States has remained low despite
clear demonstration of its beneficial effect on reducing the
incidence of serious head injury.


BMJ. 1994 Jan 15;308(6922):173-6.

The risk of head injury in bicycle accidents is reduced among
children wearing a helmet.


J Pediatr Surg. 1993 Feb;28(2):214-6.

These findings suggest that more emphasis should be placed on
primary and secondary injury prevention by such methods as bicycle
safety education for children and the promotion of bike helmet use.


Bol Asoc Med P R. 1992 Nov;84(11):305-8.

A case control study of accidents among bicycle riders experiencing
a crash demonstrates that safety helmets reduce the risk of head
injury by 85% and brain injury by 88%.


Pediatrics. 1992 Jan;89(1):78-80.

Research has demonstrated that helmets protect against head injury
during bicycle crashes.


JAMA. 1991 Dec 4;266(21):3032-3.

SETTING--Entire United States... MAIN RESULTS--...Forty-one percent
of head injury deaths and 76% of head injuries occurred among
children less than 15 years of age. Universal use of helmets by all
bicyclists could have prevented as many as 2500 deaths and 757,000
head injuries, ie, one death every day and one head injury every 4
minutes.


Pediatrics. 1991 Jul;88(1):43-7.

There is good evidence to recommend helmets, yet few children wear
them.


Indiana Med. 1991 Apr;84(4):264-6.

Suggestions are given on how physicians can help educate, distribute
information and encourage bicycle helmet use through their contact
with families... Ultimately, we hope such a program will increase
helmet use and consequently reduce morbidity and mortality from head
injury in Indiana's children.


J Emerg Nurs. 1990 Jan-Feb;16(1):36-40.

Wearing a properly fitted and maintained helmet that has been
certified is the best method for reducing a tragic injury. Choosing
to have a child wear a helmet may cause adjustments, but it hardly
compares to those imposed by any type of head injury.


N Engl J Med. 1989 May 25;320(21):1361-7.

We conclude that bicycle safety helmets are highly effective in
preventing head injury. Helmets are particularly important for
children, since they suffer the majority of serious head injuries
from bicycling accidents.


Am J Prev Med. 1986 Nov-Dec;2(6):330-3.

The failure of bicyclists, particularly children, to use bicycle
helmets presents an opportunity for prevention of thousands of the
traumatic head injuries that occur annually in the United States.


Aust Fam Physician. 1984 Apr;13(4):284-5.

Bicyclists have been relatively ignored, which is especially
regrettable when two thirds of bicycle casualties are school
children.

John Doe wrote:
If you want to read about the benefit of wearing a helmet while
riding a bicycle, all you have to do is research the matter.

Yes. Unfortunately presenting these soundbites is not "researching the
matter."


J Clin Neurosci. 2004 Feb;11(2):126-9.

Helmet wearing ... essential for the prevention of head injury.

The report suggests no evidence to back up this claim.

Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2003 Oct;42(8):673-7.

Helmet use protects against head injury.

The abstract asserts this, but provides no evidence to back it up.
This report doesn't even discuss that - it is titled "Parental knowledge
and children's use of bicycle helmets.". For you to suggest that it
discusses the benefits of wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle (as
per your opening comments above), is at best disengenous and at worst
deliberately misleading.

Inj Prev. 2003 Sep;9(3):266-7.

Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, UK...
The wearing of a cycle helmet is estimated to prevent 60% of head
injuries.

The Cook & Sheikh report has been widely discredited - see the BMA
website for many responses from health professionals.

Ugeskr Laeger. 2002 Oct 28;164(44):5115-9.

Helmets offer bicyclists aged 0-15 years protection against head
injury.

You've (un)helpfully snipped the following sentence that says that they
have no effect in accidents involving motor vehicles.

Online J Knowl Synth Nurs. 2002 Mar 25;9:1. Print 2002 Mar 25.

Current research continues to show that bicycle helmets prevent
serious injury and death in cyclists of all ages. Children are at
special risk for head injury.

Again some disengenous snipping: "The purpose of this review was to
update information on the use and protective effect of bicycle helmets
for child cyclists. "


Arch Pediatr. 2001 Nov;8(11):1246-50.

All five conclude in favor of the effectiveness of the bicycle
helmet even when taking bias into account.

Another review paper - no new data. Just because a paper reviews, eg,
Cook & Sheikh, doesn't now mean you have TWO papers suggesting that
helmets are a good thing.

Accident Analysis & Prevention. 2001 May;33(3):345-52.

In conclusion, the evidence is clear that bicycle helmets prevent
serious injury and even death.

Another meta-analysis. See above.


Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2000 Jun 30;120(17):1955-9.

BACKGROUND: Bicycle helmets prevent head injury in bicycle riders...
RESULTS: ... If every rider used a helmet, about 1,600 head injuries
would be avoided every year, of these, 800 among children aged 0-
14... INTERPRETATIONS: There is a significant health improvement
potential in promoting bicycle helmets in Norway

Can't comment on this as I can't read Norweigan (David?....)

Semin Neurol. 2000;20(2):247-53.

Helmet usage and common sense would lower the number of serious head
trauma cases by 50%.

And the report sensibly doesn't suggest how this figure should be
divided up.

Inj Prev. 1998 Jun;4(2):122-5.

More than 70% of injured bicyclists reported no helmet use. The
proportion of admissions of injured bicyclists who did not use
helmets was always higher than the proportion of admissions of those
who used helmets (OR = 2.23, CI = 1.39 to 3.62). Head and face
injuries occurred more often among those who did not use helmets.

So, wearing a helmet on the top of your head protects your face, does
it? How, exactly?

I can't be arsed to go through this any more. You've taken a
collection of reports, some of which are simply reviews of each other,
you've done some very selective snipping, you've evidently not actually
read the full reports, just the abstracts, and you don't seem to be
aware of the many failures of some of these reports (eg Cook & Sheikh,
Thompson and Riviera) that have led to some reports being withdrawn by
their authors.

On 25/11/04 2:29 pm, in article , "Richard"
wrote:

John Doe wrote:
If you want to read about the benefit of wearing a helmet while
riding a bicycle, all you have to do is research the matter.

Yes. Unfortunately presenting these soundbites is not "researching the
matter."

Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2000 Jun 30;120(17):1955-9.

BACKGROUND: Bicycle helmets prevent head injury in bicycle riders...
RESULTS: ... If every rider used a helmet, about 1,600 head injuries
would be avoided every year, of these, 800 among children aged 0-
14... INTERPRETATIONS: There is a significant health improvement
potential in promoting bicycle helmets in Norway

Can't comment on this as I can't read Norweigan (David?....)


Send me a copy.. The Norwegian bit is 'the journal of the Norwegian Medical
Association'

...d

Hi Everybody!

I just wanted to delurk and say that John Doe (aka LShaping) and this
post come across from rec.sport.skating.inline. I wouldn't call him a
troll, but I'd bet he'll call at least one of you a troll in this
thread.

I'm not sure whether there's much difference between inline skating and
cycling as regards helmets, other than we crash more often.
Cheers,
Mike.

LSMike wrote:

I'm not sure whether there's much difference between inline skating and
cycling as regards helmets, other than we crash more often.

For the most part inline skaters (I'm one too, btw) don't share their
venues with motor vehicles, so crashes tend to be into the ground and
adjacent static objects, or people. And when this happens they're
generally (not always, but more typically) going slower than bikes go on
the road, or put another way they're typically subject to the sort of
crashes that a cycle helmet is designed to take: relatively low energy
and though it might give you a bloody awful headache and bloody graze
it's unlikely to kill you.
I've always worn skaters' wrist guards, because if I go over I'll almost
certainly break my fall with my hands, but very probably not my head.
As has indeed been the case when it's happened, so I've never changed
modus operandi for head or wrist protection.

I took up inline skating when I was still an advocate of wearing my bike
helmet every cycle trip I did, but I never used it for inline skating
even though I had it. Why not? Because it struck me it wasn't going to
save my life because I wouldn't (in all probability) have a life
threatening accident on my blades and as I go blading as an XC ski
workout on nice days I benefit greatly from not having a sweaty box on
my head. At the time I wore the hat on the bike because I was labouring
under the misapprehension that it might well save my life.

So given the nature and frequency of crashes I'd say a lid is more
appropriate on blades than on a bike. But it's still very unlikely to
save your life, because you're not likely to be in the sort of accident
that will get you totalled while out skating. On a bike, most of the
fatal accidents involve motor vehicles, and they represent a source of
kinetic energy greatly in excess of the sort of thing cycle helmets will
deal with: just look at the specifications if you don't believe that.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Nicely thought out post. Yes, I'd agree with that, but the skating
profile doesn't really match the type of skating I and my friends tend
to do, although it no doubt matches some peoples. We tend to be faster
than many recreational cyclists, skate in the street amongst the
traffic, etc. Recently in the Berlin marathon I averaged 18mph for the
entire race, and that's not particularly fast.

Peter Clinch typed

I've always worn skaters' wrist guards, because if I go over I'll almost
certainly break my fall with my hands, but very probably not my head.
As has indeed been the case when it's happened, so I've never changed
modus operandi for head or wrist protection.

Veering OT for light relief, I've seen fractures higher up the radius
when these are worn. I haven't a clue whether this is worse numerically.
(I suspect high radial fractures are technically more difficult to fix
though)

Have these guards been properly evaluated ;-) ??

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Yes, stress displacement by wrist guards has long been discussed on
r.s.s.i. In your opinion are you better or worse off with a fracture
higher up the forearm versus a hyper-extended wrist?

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

Veering OT for light relief, I've seen fractures higher up the radius
when these are worn. I haven't a clue whether this is worse numerically.
(I suspect high radial fractures are technically more difficult to fix
though)

Have these guards been properly evaluated ;-) ??

But I think it's the case that, like helmets, most of the accidents
won't actually be breaks but grazes. The scratches on mine certainly
didn't transfer into breaks. And unlike a helmet it's very highly
probably that you'll break a fall with your hands by reflex so if you go
over your chances of a hand down onto tarmac are very high. But though
I've broken falls with my hands on skates and unicycle, I haven't banged
my head from either as yet.

This is not to say a break won't be worse, but if breaks were that
common I don't think skating would be as popular as it is...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"LSMike" wrote in message oups.com...
Hi Everybody!

I just wanted to delurk and say that John Doe (aka LShaping) and this
post come across from rec.sport.skating.inline. I wouldn't call him a
troll, but I'd bet he'll call at least one of you a troll in this
thread.

Give the man a cigar! See http://tinyurl.co.uk/ovsl original url
http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?q=g:thl2872101224d&dq=&hl=en&lr=&selm=Xns95 ADAFC76CB3wisdomfolly%40151.164.30.44.
Top posted too.

Imagine "John Doe" calling Nick Kew a troll. What a sauce! I've heard
everything now.

--
Dave...