67% of equestrian helmet wearers (returning helmets post incident) suffering concussions
Posted: 26 Aug 2019, 5:27pm
A study of equestrian helmets that were returned as part of an exchange system showed that 73.5% wearing helmets sustained a head injury (of those that noted injury or not). And of that %, 91% of those were concussions, meaning a 67% concussion rate from the sample study post accident (sic), the rest were (4%) skull fractures, (0.7%) subdural hematoma, (0.7%) cerebral edema and 5 (3.6%) diffuse axonal injury (DAI), there was one death from head injury.
One of the interesting points made was that the SNELL standard could be inducing more TBI due to the stiffness of the helmet and it having less give in it than other standards and be less beneficial in lower threshold impacts particularly onto softer surfaces such as soil, grass etc which is common with equestrians - but also applicable to cycling
The study also discusses rotational injuries caused by the helmet itself.
It looks to me that in the world of equestrian, if you have an incident, that despite wearing a helmet you're massively at risk of having a TBI or worse, nearly 3/4 of all returned helmets post incident still meant the wearer sustained injury to the head with a massive 91% being concussions. Also the fact that some helmets didn't show signs of damage are hiding other problems that are likely to crop up in cycling and other sports/activities too.
https://sportsmedicine-open.springerope ... 019-0193-0
One of the interesting points made was that the SNELL standard could be inducing more TBI due to the stiffness of the helmet and it having less give in it than other standards and be less beneficial in lower threshold impacts particularly onto softer surfaces such as soil, grass etc which is common with equestrians - but also applicable to cycling
The study also discusses rotational injuries caused by the helmet itself.
It looks to me that in the world of equestrian, if you have an incident, that despite wearing a helmet you're massively at risk of having a TBI or worse, nearly 3/4 of all returned helmets post incident still meant the wearer sustained injury to the head with a massive 91% being concussions. Also the fact that some helmets didn't show signs of damage are hiding other problems that are likely to crop up in cycling and other sports/activities too.
https://sportsmedicine-open.springerope ... 019-0193-0