A Canadian Medical Association Journal Editorial
Nova Scotia passed legislation on Dec. 15, 2011, requiring all skiers and snowboarders — children and adults — to wear a helmet. This likely constitutes the world’s toughest such rules and is laudable from a public health perspective, but there’s just one problem. How good are the helmets? The fact is that, to protect their noggins, Canadian skiers and snowboarders might as well be using a toque as some of the helmets being sold. That’s according to an expert at the Canadian Standards Association (CSA).1 The CSA consulted with helmet manufacturers, resort owners, skiing groups and other stakeholders to come up with higher standards for made-in-Canada ski and snowboard helmets. Those standards were released back in 2009 but have yet to be met by any manufacturer. Why not is anyone’s guess. It could be that Canada’s relatively small market is deterring those who have to adhere to a bottom line. But undoubtedly, the lack of demand for CSA-approved helmets is a factor.
Read the full editorial (pdf)
Please review our 2011 Bike Helmet Booking Programs for spring and summer shipping; special prices for BIAC community members. This great offer expires: March 7, 2011.
Seven Star Sports, 65 LANCING DRIVE, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8W 2Z9
Tel: 905-574-9270
Fax: 905-574-7082
E-Mail: tarick1@sevenstarsports.com
Dr. Michael Stuart is concerned about concussions in all levels of hockey, and he is doing something about it.
While much has been discussed about the serious injuries in the NHL and what steps the league has taken to try to limit their occurrence, Dr. Stuart and the Mayo Clinic are trying to fix the problem way before players grow up to be pros.
Stuart, the vice chair of orthopedic surgery and the co-director of sports medicine centre departments at the Mayo Clinic, is spearheading a two-day summit on concussions beginning Tuesday.
Scientists, trainers, coaches, officials, and equipment manufacturers from the United States, Canada and Europe will gather at the clinic’s sports medicine centre for the “Ice Hockey Summit: Action on Concussion” conference.
Read the rest of this entry »
DAVID NAYLOR
Globe and Mail Update
Published Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010 9:13PM EDT
Simon Fraser University football coach Dave Johnson didn’t like the way his team’s 2008 season ended, especially for the damage it had inflicted of some of his players. The Clansmen finished that season with four starters lost to season-ending concussions, including one player who wound up sitting out the 2009 season as well.
So when Johnson heard about a new football helmet using air shock absorbers instead of foam for protection, he decided to give the gear a shot.
“I’m thinking, something is wrong,” Johnson said. “I got a hold of the Xenith helmet guy and told him I need our players to be better protected.”
Read the rest of this entry »
The Huffington Post September 24, 2010
Richard C. Senelick, M.D.
Neurologist, Medical Director of the Rehabilitation Institute of San Antonio
Posted: September 5, 2010 09:00 AM
“Hit em! Take him down — harder! Knock him out.”
Are you among crazed spectators at a boxing match? Far from it — these comments are coming from “normal” parents at middle school or high school football games around the country. Worse yet, they may even be thrown around at Pee Wee Youth football games on Saturday mornings.
As a neurologist who specializes in brain injury and more importantly as a father and grandfather who has witnessed this phenomenon, I have a “dog in this fight.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Please be aware that the report on the consultation regarding proposed legislative action for ski and snowboard helmets has been released and published.
Proposal for Legislative Action on Ski and Snowboard Helmets
Regards,
Denis Roy, P.Eng.
Project Officer / Agent de projets
Mechanical & Electrical Hazards Division / Division des dangers mécaniques & électriques
Product Safety Programme / Programme de la sécurité des produits
Health Canada / Santé Canada
123 Slater St, 4th floor, A424/ 123 rue Slater, 4e plancher, A424
Mac Donald Building / Immeuble Mac Donald
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0K9
Address Locator / Indice de l’adresse: 3504D
Tel: (613) 952-3517
Fax: (613) 952-9138
denis.g.roy@hc-sc.gc.ca
Terrace RCMP
The Terrace RCMP will soon be providing the community with an education and enforcement program regarding the proper use of bicycle helmets.
The campaign spearheaded by Terrace RCMP’s Cst Ryan Proulx and Cst Doug Rentz will be focusing on reducing the number of cyclists riding without helmets as well as attending local schools to educate youths on the importance of helmets when cycling.
Bicycle helmets are mandatory in the province of British Columbia. Every person who rides a bike is by law required to wear an approved helmet. The law was not enacted by the government to generate funds, but to save injuries or lives of persons involved in incidents while riding a bike. Under the Motor Vehicle Act, a parent or guardian of a person under the age of 16 is responsible and chargeable to ensure their child wears an approved helmet. But laws alone are not enough. Parents play a key role in helping keep their kids safe while on the road.
Tips for Parents to Help Keep Kids Safe:
● Monitor your children’s riding regularly to ensure they always wear helmets.
● Get the right kind of helmet and ensure it fits your child. The helmet should rest two finger widths above the eyebrow and the side and chin straps should be snug.
● People of all ages should wear a helmet when they ride. Remember–you are your child’s best role model.
● Children under 10 should not ride on the road. They do not have the physical and thinking skills to handle themselves in traffic. Children over 10 need to practice before they can ride on the road.
● Be sure your child is “traffic-wise.” Cycling deaths nearly always involve collisions with a motor vehicle. The child’s riding and road safety skills seem to be a factor in more than half of deaths.
The Terrace RCMP want to make the community aware that in an effort to have them wear helmets fines will be issued to those failing to comply with the rules.
Remember, a head injury can last a lifetime, a fatal head injury is the end of a lifetime.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
BY PHILIP DEVENCENTIS Wyckoff Suburban News OF SUBURBAN NEWS
When Michael Rezzonico strapped on his football helmet, all of his fears subsided. He felt invincible.
Yet Michael, who played one season for Indian Hills High School in Oakland, will never play the game he loves again.
Too many concussions have sidelined the 16-year-old Oakland resident from all contact sports. A doctor said repeated blows to Michael’s head could result in permanent brain damage.
Michael, entering his junior year, has incurred eight concussions since receiving his first one playing ice hockey in seventh grade. Most of them occurred last season, he said, while playing linebacker and tailback for Indian Hills’ varsity football team, which did not win a game in the 2009 season.
Read the rest of this entry »
A recent study has found that mandatory bike helmet laws are effective in reducing cycling injuries and fatalities and are no impediment to ridership numbers. Dr. Ryan Zarychanski, an assistant professor of community health services and internal medicine at the University of Manitoba, who co-authored the study that investigated this matter, said that an “all ages” law should be adopted by all provinces.
Read the rest of this entry »
Cycling without adequate protection is as reckless as driving without a seatbelt
The Guardian, Thursday 5 August 2010
As a keen cyclist, I was very pleased to read about the launch of the capital’s new bicycle hire scheme, “which makes 5,000 machines available to rent” (Just get on the seat and pedal: London bike hire scheme takes off, 31 July). But in the six photographs accompanying your article not a single rider, including your reporter and the mayor of London, was wearing a helmet.
I cycle every day to work as headteacher of a hospital school, where I am also a member of the multi-disciplinary brain injury rehabilitation team. The majority of children my team work with have suffered from traumatic brain injuries resulting from a nasty bang on the head, and a significant number have received their injuries from cycle accidents, while not wearing a helmet. Of course, many adult cyclists also put themselves similarly at risk.
Read the rest of this entry »
