The average cyclist crashes about every 4,500 miles. Kids? Seems like at least once a week. Wearing a helmet has been shown to prevent up to 75% of cyclists’ head injuries… and are required by law in the state of North Carolina for all cyclists under age 16.*

Here’s what you need to know about choosing and wearing a bicycle helmet.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A HELMET

• Helmets must meet the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission standard. Look for one of the following stickers: CPSC sticker, or ASTM’s F1447 sticker, or Snell’s B-95 sticker. (CPSC and ASTM standards are identical; Snell’s is even tougher, but you’ll rarely see these.)
• Choose color with visibility in mind: white is still best, next in line come other bright colors that are easily seen by drivers.
• Choose a helmet that is totally smooth, with no points that can snag. A good helmet is designed to protect your head in case the worst possible event occurs: if you are hit by a car. It needs to be smooth to “glide” along pavement (instead of catching in a way that bends your neck), and to prevent any protrusion from catching under the bumper of a car.
• If you ride a mountain bike, look for models that offer protection from trailside hazards.
• If you have unusual needs–or if you simply want help with your helmet choice–ask for help at a specialized cycling store, which will have a wider range of products and the expertise to help. For example, there are helmets to fit unusually large heads…padding to fit unusually small heads…helmets with “ponytail ports” for people with long hair…helmets with no large top vents for people with sparse or no hair.

WHAT TO AVOID

Avoid anything that prevents you from wearing a helmet properly, or which violates the definition of a “good helmet” listed above. In particular:

• AVOID dark colors
• AVOID extreme aero shapes, which provide a convenient “lever” for knocking the helmet aside in a fall
• AVOID squared-off, ridged, ribbed, or spiked shapes
• AVOID helmets without a standards sticker on the inside
• AVOID helmets with thin straps (more likely to break)
• AVOID helmets that don’t allow good visibility
• AVOID helmets that don’t fit properly
• AVOID helmets with strap adjustments that are too complicated for comfortable, everyday use

WHEN TO REPLACE A HELMET

• For sure, if the last time you bought a helmet was before 1999, the last time the U.S. government updated safety standards.
• Replacement recommended every 5 years, but can go longer if you don’t ride often.
• For sure, if the helmet has a crack or dent.
• Recommended after any crash–some damage may not be visible.
• If your helmet shows bubbling or other signs of heat damage

HOW TO WEAR A HELMET

For a video on how to do a helmet fit test, click here: Helmet Fit Test Video

For an illustration of the right and wrong ways to wear a helmet, click here: “Do you know the right way to wear a helmet?” or here: “Easy Steps to Properly Fit a Bicycle Helmet”

• A helmet is properly worn level on the head–not tilted forward or backward.
• The helmet should sit low on the forehead, one or two finger-widths above the eyebrows.
• The strap should be fit snugly–not loose, not too tight for comfort.
• Once on the head, try to move it with your hands. The helmet shouldn’t move more than an inch in any direction no matter how hard you try.

SPECIAL INFORMATION ABOUT HELMETS FOR KIDS

• Every child who rides alone or on the back of an adult’s bike needs a helmet. However, until a child reaches age 1 year, the neck muscles aren’t strong enough to support a helmet. If you have questions about riding with a toddler, talk with your child’s pediatrician about the best protection.
• Replace a helmet as often as you need to assure a good, safe fit. Consider a helmet at least as important as shoes.
• Some child helmets have several foam inserts of different thicknesses. These can be changed out to accommodate a growing head. (And the different thicknesses do NOT affect the protection offered by the helmet.)
• Teach your child that bike helmet is for biking or skating with in-line skates only. Skateboarding requires a different helmet.
• VERY IMPORTANT WARNING: A child SHOULD NOT wear a bike helmet on the playground. Children have died due to crush or strangulation when the helmet got caught on climbing equipment. For more information about this topic, click here: “Wear Bike Helmets On Bicycles – Not On Playgrounds”

HOW TO GET YOUR CHILD TO WEAR A HELMET

• Start by being a good role model: Wear a helmet yourself while riding!
• Make wearing a helmet a requirement right from the first day your child starts riding a 2-wheeler. If you make it an important rite of passage, it will feel more like something to be proud of. (Do you remember the day your training wheels were finally taken off? That kind of pride.)
• Explain why wearing a helmet is important.
• Talk with the parents of your child’s friends to let them know that you require your child to wear a helmet…and that you would like their help in applying that rule. This is a great opportunity to ask if they also require their children to wear helmets–kids are more likely to wear helmets if their friends also do.
• Point out cyclists wearing helmets as you’re driving, or if you watch bike races on television.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS…

From actual people who crashed:

• “I didn’t think I needed a helmet–I was only going about a mile.”
• “I don’t know what happened. The brakes locked on a turn and I flipped over the front wheel.”
• “I wasn’t expecting that rock to be there.”

* While your child’s brain depends on a helmet, don’t forget that your child depends on you and your healthy brain. The HensonFuerst traumatic brain injury team has seen too many people suffer permanent, catastrophic brain damage from bicycle accidents.

INFORMATION SOURCES:

Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

SafeKids USA

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: Helmet Laws by State

ASTM International: Standards Worldwide

REI: How to Choose a Bicycle Helmet

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Wikipedia: Bicycle Helmet

In a report by News 14 Carolina, tiny Colfax, North Carolina (located about halfway between Winston-Salem and Greensboro) is home to a special program that pairs horses with people who have suffered brain injury.

The non-profit Horsepower Therapeutic Learning Center calls on different aspects of horsemanship to develop athleticism, memory, balance, and speech among people who lost some of that function.

“There’s three different stations,” said Jan Clifford, executive director and founder of Horsepower, Inc. “They’re working on the farrier, who provides the footwear for the horses. They have a riding segment where they actually ride the horses and work on balance and speech. Then they have a section where they go in and work on memory and recall, working on different things that horses and equestrian activities do.” (from the News14 story)

The news piece tells the story of Brandy Gilliam who was hit by a car 11 years ago. She spent 3 months in a coma, and another year in the hospital. She has participated in the Horsepower program for three years, and has experienced significant improvements in her posture, walking, and speaking abilities.

This amazing program provides help to more than 250 people every year. There is no cost to the participants, thanks to a grant from the Winston-Salem Foundation.

To read or watch the full news story, click here: News14 Carolina.

To read more about Horsepower, visit their website here: www.horsepower.org

For more information about the Winston-Salem Foundation, click here: Winston-Salem Foundation

And if you have legal questions about traumatic brain injury, visit our website here: HensonFuerst Law (www.lawmed.com)

SUMMER SAFETY CHECKLIST

Now that the Fourth of July weekend is upon us, many families will be spending every spare minute around the pool or at the beach. Most of us have fond memories of those “Hey, watch me dive” days from our childhood. I remember one summer when my cousin slipped while running around the edge of the pool and split his lip on the concrete… and another year when my teenage friend nearly drowned after body surfing in the dark.

In hindsight, it is obvious that we were all pretty lucky that our injuries weren’t worse than that. Those memories just as easily could have been tragic. Head and neck injuries can result in brain injury, paralysis, coma, or death.

Today’s summer advice is about water safety, so that our kids have fond summer memories, too.

Ocean Play

According to Hoag Hospital’s Project Wipeout, most injuries in the ocean are caused by the powerful surge and pull of waves. Serious injuries can occur in a number of ways:

“When your body tumbles in the waves, gets thrown by the waves to the ocean floor or when your head spears into the sand; your head can be forced down onto your shoulders, pushed forward into your chest or pushed backward further than it can naturally extend. And once spinal cord damage is sustained, little can be done to medically repair it. The result is severe pain, paralysis, the inability to breathe on your own or even death.” (Project Wipeout)

• Don’t jump off piers or jetties.
• Don’t enter the ocean alone.
• When body-boarding, hold the board so it extends past your head–if  a board is held closer, a wave can flip the board backward toward the head and neck.
• Make sure you know where sandbars are before riding surf.
• Don’t enter the ocean drunk.

Swimming Pool Play

According to LiveStrong.com, supervision at the pool is the number-one safety rule:

“One-on-one adult supervision is recommended for children. If supervising a child, you are too far away if you are unable to reach the child with an outstretched arm. Young children under 7 and non-swimmers should wear a PFD, personal flotation device, when in water at or above chest height. Flotation toys are not intended to prevent drowning. Implement the buddy system for everyone. Good swimmers and adults alike should never swim alone.” (LiveStrong.com)

Diving

• Don’t dive in less than 9 feet of water. A good rule of thumb is if there is no diving board, diving is not allowed. That means no diving into the shallow end of a pool, or into an above-ground pool.
• If you can’t see the bottom, don’t dive. You never know when there might be submerged items in your dive path.
• Don’t dive into unfamiliar waters…even if others are diving.
• Get training before doing back dives or fancy dives, or diving from diving blocks.
• Don’t try to dive through or over objects.
• Never dive from pool structures, such as slides or ladders… or from retaining walls, rooftops, balconies, or fences.
• Don’t dive drunk or under the influence of drugs.
• Don’t dive alone.

Sliding

• Don’t let anyone slide head-first…even adults.
• One slider on the slide at a time.
• Slide only if the water in the landing area is free of objects or other people.
• The landing area in front of a slide should have a minimum depth of 5 feet.

To read our other Summer Safety Tips…

Tip #1: Heat Illness.

Tip #2: Summer Auto Wrecks.

Tip #3: Medications that Don’t Mix with Heat.

RESOURCES

Lifesaving Resources, Inc. Spinal Injuries in the Aquatic Environment; Part 1: Prevention. (Gerald M. Dworkin, reprinted from 1987 Parks & Recreation. (http://www.lifesaving.com)

Hoag Hospital’s Project Wipeout. A nonprofit hospital’s program to save lives and prevent injuries at the beach. (http://www.hoaghospital.org/ProjectWipeout/AboutProjectWipeout.html)

Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation’s Summer Safety Checklist. (http://www.christopherreeve.org/site/c.mtKZKgMWKwG/b.5283099/k.6B65/Summer_Safety_Checklist.htm)

LiveStrong.com. ( http://www.livestrong.com/article/124389-private-swimming-pool-safety/#ixzz0sTuyKsvE)

Emergency room doctors dread each new snow because they know that sledding accidents are soon to follow. This story in the Raleigh News & Observer highlights the danger of high-speed sledding–when cars tow snow-riders for that extra thrill. Too often, accidents cause severe injuries, including head injuries and even death. The white stuff is fun, especially in eastern North Carolina, where it is a relatively rare event. But please frolic responsibly! For more information about traumatic brain injury, please visit our site.