Photo from the New York Times Health section.
If you didn't already have enough reasons to wear your helmet, this story from the New York Times says that our brains shrink as we age. Therefore, there's extra room inside our skull so that if we fall our brains get slammed around more. Conclusion: if you're older, wear your helmet.
And in case you wondered whether wearing your helmet matters in a crash, statistics confirm you are significantly more likely to suffer serious head injury without a helmet. Conclusion: if you eventually want an older, smaller brain and you're young, wear your helmet now so you can wear your helmet later.
Keep it...on,
CurioRando
Hi
ReplyDeleteMay I ask what evidence you have found for the efficacy of helmets? It's just that this site:
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/
indicates that the evidence is equivocal at best.
Kind regards
Dave
Well, that's a good question, and I posed it to my Physical Therapist today. I raised the issue raised by the articles in the link you provided. I think that she and I come down on the side that a blow to the skull is potentially so damaging that it outweighs the risk of greater torsional damage due to having this huge helmet on your head.
ReplyDeleteNeither scenario is pretty, and I confess I'm not a scientist, but I'm betting my overall net safety on having a helmet atop my skull.
Thanks for posing the question. Does equivocal lead you to ride unhelmeted?