Cool and Busted

Is it really cool to risk head injury?

According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, each year in the U.S. skateboarding injuries cause about 50, 000 visits to emergency departments and more than 1,500 children and adolescents need to be hospitalized. Most of the hospitalizations involve head injuries.
Some injuries lead to death: in most of those cases the rider was not wearing a helmet.

The U.S. National Safety Council gives a number of tips for safe skateboarding:

1. Wear properly fitting protective gear, such as closed, slip-resistant shoes, helmets, and specially designed padding,
2. Don’t take chances. Complicated tricks require careful practice and a specially designed area. Don't ride in the street.
3. Never hitch a ride from a car, bus, truck, bicycle, etc.
4. Learning how to fall in case of an accident may help reduce your chances of being seriously injured.
If you fall, try to roll rather than sticking out your hands to absorb the force with your arms, tuck your head, hands and arms in and look at your stomach.
Even though it may be difficult, during a fall try to relax your body rather than stiffen.

Ali H. Mesiwala, M.D., a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai’s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, said that “the bottom line is that it’s great that people are going out and enjoying activities such as skateboarding. They can have fun doing them but everyone needs to stop and take a moment to realize that professionals do these sports every day and even they wear helmets. Anytime you’re going to participate in sports activities you need to do things that maximize your ability to have fun again and again. With today’s affordable and fashionable helmets, there’s no excuse for not taking 30 seconds to put one on.”

Internationally-renowned champion skateboarder Tony Hawk said, "I wear helmets for protection after being knocked unconscious more than six times in my career. You never know what can happen, especially when you're starting out. I could have easily died without one."

Properly-fitting helmets are the best defense against serious head injuries.
The National Safety Council warns that not all helmets are created equal and picking the right helmet for a sport is important and it is also important that it fits properly.
So whether you’re new to the sport or a professional like Tony Hawk, wearing
a properly-fitting helmet can keep you doing grinds, kickflips and ollies for many years to come.

Incidentally, much of the above is relevant to all board sports; in particular, never risk head injury and heed the advice to always wear a helmet.