Value of helmets!

I was out this afternoon on my snowbaord, feeling pretty good with the days riding. Last run then I had to switch to ski's because my ski patrol shift had just started (I am not checked out to patrol on a baord just yet).

Any way, the last run---I'll have to ask the person I was riding with---I have absolutely no idea what happened. Woke up in an ambulance, remembered I would have to buy beer for falling on shift before I remembered it was 2002!

Long and short is no concussion, seperated AC joint right side, and no snow sports for a couple of weeks and I probably should replace my helmet!

Am I glad I FINALLY (40 yrs)decided to buy and wear a helmet? You bet I am!

Typing w/one hand is not fun!
S_j

Skier-j

Well you won't be changing your name to Rider-j anytime soon.

Sorry to hear about the bum ride (ambulance), cause I know it changes your season's plans. Glad it was only the helmet that needs replacement and not the more expensive stuff inside of it.

While your home recovering, just thing of the extra time you'll have to post here! Make up another name, and have your own conversations!!!

I wish I was that lucky!

Take care and get better.

Kee-Tov

No name change anytime soon!

My point was to all you bears that don't wear helmets----GET ONE and wear it.

I have been pretty luck so far, many years on snow and never an injury of any significance, sprained thumbs almost every year is about it.

I'll, hopefully, be as good as new soon.

I don't want to think what the outcome MIGHT have been!

null

Whats an AC joint? I hope it's not the same thing as an ACL...

...and what the heck happened? Did you get grabbed by a "snowsnake" or something?

Skier , glad to hear you didn't crack the melon , bummer about the other injury .
This is like "deja-vu" for me , never used a helmet before but pick one up during the off season and needed it once this year already, damn glad I had it on also.

epic

I don't know the technical name, but run your finger up your clavicle (collar bone) until you reach your shoulder. That intersection is called an AC joint, Not an articulating joint. Basically I pulled all the ligaments apart.

Although I can't dispute it, cuz I was in never never land, they tell me I was riding fast, just turned heelside, never got my edge and fell hard on the back of my head and shoulder.

J

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ January 06, 2002 11:34 AM: Message edited 1 time, by skier_j ]</font>

AC - acromio-clavicular joint. clavicle is the collarbone, and the acromion process is the name for the point on the scapula (shoulderblade bone) that extends out to the shoulder and connects with the clavicle. Its held together with some pretty heavy duty ligaments.
Unfortunately, A seperated AC joint and/or a fractured clavicle are some of the most common injuried in skiing & boarding. Looks like you picked a popular one, S_j

You know, it's odd: I railed against helmets, I said just prove to me it's what I should do - and finally I did. First day out this year it earned its keep in a hard face plant. Also, it's no trouble at all, comfortable, and I never really think about it. Odd.

Check out this thread about AC joint separation: http://www.epicski.com/cgi-bin/ultim...&f=11&t=000070

Take care of yourself!!!

Thanks LM,

You took my bait without me having to ask!

We'll see what the doc's have to say first.

Then whatever I need to do to get back on ths snow.

skier_j

Thanks for your story. After 35 years of skiing I finally started wearing a helmet. At first it was "I don't ski hard enough or fast enough" I have been fortunate enough that I have not tested my helmet and hope to never do so but I have been smacked in the back of the head (first day I put my helmet on) by my wife's skis once when she hoisted them onto her shoulder while I was helping a friend's kid. :
We are glad it's just a helmet replacement ( mfg will probably do it cheap I hear most replace helmets at a fraction of the cost after impact damage) good luck on the AC rehab.

And Thank You for all your hard work as a patroller. I know it can be a thankless job sometimes.

The stars must be aligned properly---or is it planets!

Managed to walk in to my primary care office this AM and walk out with an appointment with an orthodaedist Wed. AM. (Sorry LindaA and everyone else that has to wait week's) one of the benefits of living in a small population area with a teaching hospital and great subspecialty practices!

Skier_j

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by skier_j:
I was out this afternoon on my snowbaord, feeling pretty good with the days riding. Last run then I had to switch to ski's because my ski patrol shift had just started (I am not checked out to patrol on a baord just yet).

Any way, the last run---I'll have to ask the person I was riding with---I have absolutely no idea what happened. Woke up in an ambulance, remembered I would have to buy beer for falling on shift before I remembered it was 2002!

Long and short is no concussion, seperated AC joint right side, and no snow sports for a couple of weeks and I probably should replace my helmet!

Am I glad I FINALLY (40 yrs)decided to buy and wear a helmet? You bet I am!

Typing w/one hand is not fun!
S_j <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I know what you are talking about. Last year I was skiing with my wife at Deer Valley. TR got Deb and I a couple of passes. Anyway, we started down a very easy hill. It was very windy, and all I know is I was standing up one moment and laying on my side the next. I couldn't figure out where the Ski Patrol came from. Her and my wife(the Nurse) were both on their knees checking me out. I was out cold for about 5 minutes. I glad for 2 things, 1: I had my helmet on. & 2: nothing was broke or hurt. Somethimes the ice just reaches out and grabs your skies or board. : :

I started to ski with a helmet last season, now its tough to even think about skiing without one. I felt that it has probably helped me avoid getting seriously hurt when getting my bell rung. I now have convinced many of my friends of the need to wear helmets. The crashes that you don't expect are when you need one the most.

The value is priceless. The cost for a decent helmet isn't much compared to brain injury.

I rep a helmet line at my ski area. I have sold almost 50 helmets since the beginning of the season. Two of the styles are $50, one is $80, Pro-form; $100 and $160 in the shops. I’m not using this as an advertisement. I sell them with out even trying. Folks are coming up to me with groups for fit sessions. I even sold one to one of my best friends. NOBODY thought he would ever buy a ski helmet let alone ski in it. I saw him wearing it last weekend.

40 O's and 40 O's,

Jim

well-said, Jim O'D. Last Saturday I took my career highest-speed digger. Head/helmet hit packed snow pretty dang hard. I know from past experiences in diggers that if I'd been wearing a softie hat, that would have spelled the end of the ski day, if not the end of that week's skiing.

My Boeri Shorty ensured that the only injury was the embarrassment of facing my friends later who said they watched me getting further and further forward on my skis in successive turns, knowing that a digger was imminent.

I wear a helmet biking, white water canoeing, and rock climbing. I ski 20-50 mph. A helmet is not going to help me at a regular ski slope too much. I have given some thought to buying one for when I am skiing off piste above treeline where the rocks are. That is my preference and I hope I will always be able to exercise my choice.

I didn't buy a helmet because I'm afraid I'm going to fall (though it's been known to happen occasionally); I bought one because I know someone's going to hit me eventually. ... and also because I told my kid I wouldn't let him ski without one!

Tominator - you sir, are a man I can respect. Lead by example. :

When helmets started getting some steam a few years ago I was in the anti sect at first. Well, I feel odd riding my bike to the corner Slurp and Burp without a helmet, I ski as fast and probably for the most part faster than I ride my bike. I got a helmet last season and it is now a second skin. Very comfortable and warm. Plus with the ability to open the vents and remove the ear flaps it is comfortable when it get a bit warm.

Came down to the parking lot a couple weeks ago and this little tike was with his mom getting dressed. As i walked by I commented to him how cool his helmet was he lit up like a firecracker. A big dude had just validated that a helmet is cool, and safety is cool.

A condom may not be that comfortable but it could save your life.

ok, a different kind of helmet but you get the jist.

What Skier_J has not mentioned is that 4 days after his face plant (right in front of the lift line) was that another patroller rolled the snowmobile and crushed his helment. He walked away with a shoulder injury also.

I has been a very interesting week and the Boeri rep had sales go up by half the patrol.

Seeing is believing.

Became a HUGE fan of a helmet after skiing Berthoud Pass for years. One day, we just noticed everyone on patrol, staff, one plank, and two planks had a helmet and a beacon. Without a helmet, I feel like I could be one crutch away from a telethon -- between the trees, rocks, and out of control peoople on the hill. Three years ago, I pre-released entering the North Chutes. I flipped over and landed on my back, head first, going down the chute. Thank God for my helmet and pack, which took most of the abuse. The only thing burised was my ego; I had to get a new helmet.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ January 11, 2002 09:55 AM: Message edited 1 time, by woodpile ]</font>

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by E65223:
What Skier_J has not mentioned is that 4 days after his face plant (right in front of the lift line) was that another patroller rolled the snowmobile and crushed his helment. He walked away with a shoulder injury also.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh, oh, oh.... desperately searching for a patroller on snowboard or snowmachine wise-crack.

Reminds me of the time a young VT State Policeman was driving the first time in the snow. Being originally from the south, wasn't use to the stuff, and didn't follow the normal safe driving rules.

Car slid and flipped into the ditch. Not hurt, he knew that if the car wasn't "outfitted" for the snow, he would be in trouble... so he got onto the bottom of the car, and started to put the snow chains on!!!

Not a true story, but after the accidnet is not the time to prepare... Oh, by the way, was it the snowmobile that no one was to use?

About sixty bucks.  Save your pennies and make a good choice.

 

12

 

Now this is a touching story.
 

 

Sounds like a lead into a Dos Equis commercial.

Rode a chair lift with a patroler who didn't wear a helmet. I politely asked why he didn't wear a helmet being a patroler. He stated that helmets only provide protection involving impacts happening under 18 mph. I asked in return if the helmets that Olympic skiers wore didn't provide the skier any protection. He answered that racing was a different application. I said nothing. I have seen photos of Jean Claude Killey only wearing a stocking hat when racing. Maybe the patroler was right. 

I know one thing for sure I have one head and the last time I cked they wasn't doing head transpalnts!! Hey its pretty warm too!!  

Helmet $100 versus $1000 CAT scan of your brain and possible lost of work days.  Helmet is definitely worth every penny.

 

In most cases I don't believe a Helmet will save your life.  High speed into a tree will kill you many ways that have nothing to do with head trauma.  Blunt force trauma to the chest or pelvis will kill you a few minutes slower than a head injury.  Either way you are going to die. 

 

Up until a few years ago, I never bothered to wear a helmet for exactly this reason.  I figured, what difference does it make whether you protect your heaad when the rest of your body is completely exposed anyway?  Then two incidents happened, which made a lasting impression on me:  (1) we had a patient who died from severe head trauma after a collision with a tree, and (2) we had a patroller who struck a tree and suffered a significant head injury. 

 

The first incident was sobering, but it involved a customer who was on terrain that was way too difficult for him.  That sort of incident doesn't make as much of an impact on experts like us because we figure that we know how to ski, and we're not stupid, so that won't happen to us.

 

But the second incident was truly thought changing.  The patroller who hit the tree was a great skier, and was on one of the easiest blue runs at our area.  He wasn't even patrolling at the time- he was just free skiing.  He turned to avoid a downhill skier, and caught an unexpected patch of ice.  It was the kind of thing that happens to everyone once in a while- you slip, you fall, you get up, and you go on your way.  But it happened at exactly the wrong part of the trail, and instead of sliding down the hill, he slid off the trail and hit a tree. 

 

Of course, when he hit the tree, he suffered a whole host of injuries: broken bones, bruised spleen, pulmonary contusion, and a closed head injury.  With time and physical therapy, all the broken bones and internal injuries healed.  But the head injury left its mark - he now has permanent cognitive impairment and some subtle, but noticeable personality changes.  If he had been wearing a helmet, he still would have had the broken bones and internal injuries, but he wouldn't have had the neurological damage that he'll have to live with for the rest of his life. 

 

Helmets aren't perfect, but after seeing enough head injuries in my life, I'll take all the help I can get at avoiding them.