helmet question

[caspercarver]

i wear a smith helmet, although very comfortable i doubt how much protection it will provide if i hit a solid object. i remember in football we wore helmets with gel packs inside. you could run straight into a steel post and walk away undamaged. is anyone out there wearing a helmet that is better than just the soft foam most snowboard/ ski helmets provide?

[BadBrad]

I got a concussion this season while wearing my Giro G10 helmet, and it got me thinking about helmet design. The ski/snowboard helmets seem to be designed to take a big hit on a solid object, which is good if you hit a tree or a rock at high speed. But in my case, I hit the ground (hardpack snow), and I think that instead of the hard styrene liner a softer foam liner would have given me better protection. It doesn't appear as if the foam deformed at all, so the majority of the impact was transferred to my head instead of being absorbed by the helmet. I'm thinking that a good material might be the high density foam material that is used for rollcage padding in racecars. Perhaps a dual-density helmet liner would provide better protection for various types of hits.

There are beanies available with the d3o material, and I wonder if this might work well for use on snow. The legalese says that they should not be used in place of a helmet since they don't conform to any safety standards, but perhaps someone should incorporate this material inside a hard outer shell.

[KingCrimson]

i wear a smith helmet, although very comfortable i doubt how much protection it will provide if i hit a solid object. i remember in football we wore helmets with gel packs inside. you could run straight into a steel post and walk away undamaged. is anyone out there wearing a helmet that is better than just the soft foam most snowboard/ ski helmets provide?

But try doing it 40 times! :lol:

I agree with Brad though..I had a head whack on hardpack (rolls off the tongue and rhymes too!) that jostled my gray matter and forced me to sit down and go "I hate hardboots" several times. But, I'm more susceptible due to two prior concussions.

Something that would absorb the energy before you got to the point that were deforming the foam would be nice. Perhaps it wouldn't be quite so loud when someone brings down the safety bar on your head too!

[caspercarver]

I got a concussion this season while wearing my Giro G10 helmet, and it got me thinking about helmet design. The ski/snowboard helmets seem to be designed to take a big hit on a solid object, which is good if you hit a tree or a rock at high speed. But in my case, I hit the ground (hardpack snow), and I think that instead of the hard styrene liner a softer foam liner would have given me better protection. It doesn't appear as if the foam deformed at all, so the majority of the impact was transferred to my head instead of being absorbed by the helmet. I'm thinking that a good material might be the high density foam material that is used for rollcage padding in racecars. Perhaps a dual-density helmet liner would provide better protection for various types of hits.

There are beanies available with the d3o material, and I wonder if this might work well for use on snow. The legalese says that they should not be used in place of a helmet since they don't conform to any safety standards, but perhaps someone should incorporate this material inside a hard outer shell.

seems like a good idea. here is a video on the material. would not wear in place of helmet but underneath like a liner? i found a place in the UK that sells Quicksilver d30 beanies for 2o lbs. don.t know yet if will ship to usa.<object width="425" height="344">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VDeJ7rLUYU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></object>

[skategoat]

I haven't worn a football helmet in 30 years but I recall they were quite heavy, especially when the leather got wet <G>.

Also, much of the protection from a football helmet has to do with the shape and hard material. They are meant to deflect blows, especially helmet-to-helmet, so the cushioning material is probably designed with a different purpose.

[tpalka]

I use a Sweet helmet (Trooper model I think). Sweet's claim is that the carbon fiber shell distributes the impact over the entire helmet and so they don't have to use much foam. A different approach than most helmets I looked at. The helmet is very light and very comfortable... Check them out at:

http://www.sweetprotection.com/snow/

[Neil Gendzwill]

The ski/snowboard helmets seem to be designed to take a big hit on a solid object, which is good if you hit a tree or a rock at high speed.

Actually, a snowboard helmet does almost no good in those conditions. They do OK in the situation you were in but clearly not great either. I've pointed to this article before which raises some very good points about the limits of helmet protection.

[ak_rider]

i've never worn a football helmet but i suspect they don't act the same as a ski helmet because they have different intended purposes. a football helmet is designed to be hit over and over again, where as in skiing or riding, it's assumed that you don't spend all day smacking your head. the helmet is more intended as a safeguard, just incase.

snowboard helmets are designed to protect your skull from cracking incase your head comes into contact with a solid object. the foam inside the helmet compresses and provides protection. unfortunately, these helmets do nothing to prevent concussions since no helmet can prevent your brain from rattling around in your skull when your body suddenly stops moving.

[skategoat]

i've never worn a football helmet but i suspect they don't act the same as a ski helmet because they have different intended purposes. a football helmet is designed to be hit over and over again, where as in skiing or riding, it's assumed that you don't spend all day smacking your head. the helmet is more intended as a safeguard, just incase.

snowboard helmets are designed to protect your skull from cracking incase your head comes into contact with a solid object. the foam inside the helmet compresses and provides protection. unfortunately, these helmets do nothing to prevent concussions since no helmet can prevent your brain from rattling around in your skull when your body suddenly stops moving.

Right. AFAIK, it's your brain hitting the inside of your skull that causes the concussion and not your head hitting the inside of your helmet. There are pro hockey players who had to retire because of concussions caused by body blows, not head blows.

[Kimo]

I disagree with notion that helmets are only intended to prevent skull fracture. I think both helmets, football and ski/bike, work basically the same way to accomplish two things. To spread out the force of the impact over a greater area and to reduce the rate of acceleration (also called deceleration in these examples). The first, distributing the force, is obivious. The second, is less obvious, but extremely important. Even those few inches of foam (or air bladders in a football helmet) serve to dramatically decrease the G load that the cranium experiences. True, it is the brain rattling around inside the cranium that produces concussions, but decreasing the G load on the cranium decreases the amount that the brain rattles around thereby decreasing the risk of injury or the degree of injury should one be attained.

The difference is that football helmets, as ak_rider says, are designed for multiple uses/impacts and ski/bike are only designed for one use/impact.