aviemed

for the truth about ski and snowboard deaths (without the media hype) check out www.ski-injury.com/intro.htm

links are the pits sometimes! difficult to keep track of everything put on them. what i think it probably relates to is this relative invincibility some wearing helmets seem to exhibit. i am certainly not aware of any cases worldwide where the helmet per se killed the wearer...there have been at least two cases where a helmeted skier hit someone else and one or other died...but given your skull is harder than a helmet its not surprising that the medical examiner ruled out the helmet playing a role in the mode of death. hit anything hard enough and its bad news....

what report's that then? alot of bull is talked about helmets causing more injuries to the head, neck, bystanders, lawyers bank balances etc etc but none of it is backed up with real evidence. i agree skiing and snowboarding are like driving - neither are inherently dangerous - its some of the loons on the slopes who put themselves and occasionally others at risk. certainly, we ski doctors see a greater % of helmets on injured people than on the general slope population - could this indicate that it gives people an air of invincibility? possibly. any thoughts?

forgot to say in reply... there is no evidence to support stretching etc in preventing injury. another of these things in medicine that we've been telling everyone to do for years then find out there's no evidence for it! Life's a bitch.

absolute numbers of wrist injuries worldwide have risen over the years initially as the popularity of boarding has increased. boarders numbers by and large have been static now at about 25% of total for the last 3 years, so something else is keeping the figures on the up. seems to me that big air is the factor and of course we all love it! no doubt too that icy conditions with a hard landing don't help. chances are of course that most boarders won't break their wrists, but i could put you onto hundreds who thought that way until one day..... unfortunately, the harder the fall the worse

for an objective assessment of helmets on the slopes - what they can and cannot do - check out this site www.ski-injury.com/helmet.htm

interesting debate. as a ski area doctor i hate seeing folk knocked off the snow with any sort of injury. the bottom line is that wrist guards do work, the evidence is overwhelming and the counter arguments don't hold any weight when you look at the actual facts. the likelihood of a wrist guard protecting you is much higher than that afforded by a helmet and they're cheaper too. sure the actual risk is still low but do you want to miss a season for the sake of $18.00 or so?! vested interest by the way www.ski-injury.com is my baby cheers and have a great season one and all