As you gear up for ski and snowboard season, don’t forget your helmet! A new evidence-based review from Johns Hopkins University finds that if you wear a helmet on the slopes, you decrease the risk and severity of a potential head injury, possibly saving your life.
While this may seem obvious, these findings actually debunk the popular theory that skiers and snowboarders who wear helmets have a false sense of security, promoting dangerous behavior that might increase injuries.
To prove this theory wrong, study researchers searched through extensive medical literature and reviewed numerous published studies on injury in recreational skiers and snowboarders. In the end, they found that helmets are lifesavers and do not increase the risk of injury, says Adil H. Haider, M.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the leader of the study.
Based off of this review, the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma now recommends that all skiers and snowboarders wear helmets, but there are still no laws in the US mandating helmet use on the slopes.
“Helmets make a lot of sense, even without any law,” Haider says. There are approximately 120,000 skiing- or snowboarding-related head injures reported annually. Often, those injured were not wearing helmets, according to Haider.
The good news is that you can safely swish down the slopes in style this winter! Turns out, noggin-protecting gear is pretty fashionably—plus, it keeps you warmer than simple hat. Jennifer Yoo, contributing accessories editor for Women’s Health, shares her top five helmet picks.
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