Reducing the Risk of Skateboarding Head Injuries

Proper Use of Helmets Can Reduce Head Injury

Jul 6, 2009

Approximately one-third of skateboarding injuries each year involve head injuries. Wearing a helmet can reduce the severity of the injury by cushioning the blow.

Nolan Mayer (age 20) fractured his skull after his board shot out from under him while performing a routine kick flip. Mayer doesn’t remember what happened, but he ended up in the hospital for three days with a concussion and suffers permanent partial hearing loss (Scholastic Choices, January, 2009).

Mayer thought his experience would protect him from injury. He is now a believer in wearing a helmet regardless of the difficulty of the trick.

Skateboarder Brett Santos didn’t wear a helmet either prior to his injury. He believed they were “uncomfortable, hot, expensive, and definitely not cool” (Los Angeles Times, January 21, 1999). Santos spent two weeks in an induced coma after he fell off his board and hit his head on the pavement. He is also now an advocate for safety helmets.

Helmet Use in Sports

Although research has shown that helmets are effective in reducing injuries in a number of sports, helmet use is only required in the sports of football, baseball/softball, hockey, and lacrosse. Head injuries sustained in the sport of football have been well documented and continue to receive a lot of focus in the sports medicine world. However, literature regarding the risk and rate of head injury in other sports is limited.

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission has developed standards for helmets and has recommended helmets in a number of sports including skating-related activities (Pediatric Annals, September, 2008). Although helmets are recommended in skateboarding, data on pediatric helmet use demonstrates that there is a low rate of helmet use in children skateboarding (13%).

Skateboarding has increased in popularity over the years with a number of skate parks (supervised and unsupervised) being built in communities. Some skate parks require the use of helmets (Etnies Skate Park in Lake Forest, California) and some do not.

However, even when helmets are required, the skateboarders are not required to properly fasten their chin straps. Many skateboarders skate in the parks without fastening their chin straps. Wearing a helmet without fastening the chin strap is pointless as the momentum of the fall will toss the helmet off of the head.

Helmets are uniquely designed for each sport. Some helmets are designed to withstand high velocity, low mass impact (baseball/softball) while others are designed to withstand slow velocity, high mass impact (football). Skateboarding helmets are designed for multiple impacts and tend to have lower coverage over the base of the skull (Dixon, C., and Gittelman, M., September, 2008).

Proper Fitting of Helmet

The challenge is convincing young skateboarders to properly wear their helmets anytime they step on their boards. Proper fit for a helmet includes (Current Health, March, 2001):

Education and Advocacy for Helmet Use

Education and advocacy is the key to getting kids to wear their helmets. Parents can help by teaching their kids that they have only one brain and that they need to protect it. They can enforce the use of helmets anytime their child in on wheels. Sharing stories of skateboarders who suffered brain injuries and who are now advocates for helmet use is another good way to drive home the message that “safety is cool”.

Traumatic brain injuries and deaths from skateboard falls are preventable with the use of a properly worn helmet. As Santos stated, helmets are “cooler than a coma” (Los Angeles Times, January 21, 1999).

The copyright of the article Reducing the Risk of Skateboarding Head Injuries in Sports Medicine is owned by Terry Zeigler. Permission to republish Reducing the Risk of Skateboarding Head Injuries in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.