Most doctors do not know about TBI, concussions, and helmets. Certainly I would not expect any primary care docs to know anything, and even most neurologists don't. Trauma surgeons are mostly knowledgable about acute management, and not about repeat injuries, long term issues etc. If you ask a neurologist specializing in TBI, you would get a very different response.

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Two wheels good. Four wheels bad.

Can one buy a POC helmet in the U.S.?


EDIT: Does the POC Octal have the MIPS technology? I don't see it listed here: http://www.pocsports.com/en/product/1880/octal
EDIT2: What certification do you have to have to race in the U.S. and in Europe? Does the CPSC cover both? Or do you have to have ANSI or whatever?

I've had two (2) wrecks in the last two (2) years and suffered concussions in both. Destroyed the helmets in both. I am however alive and well.

Am interested in MIPS and other technologies coming. It's my opinion that cycling helmets are a bit behind in current technology.

The helmets did nothing to prevent broken shoulders though. ;-)

This.

They sell them in Canada. We usually get the US version of everything so I would assume you can get it in the US.

I don't know exactly what models have MIPS, but it is usually stated clearly in the name.

I would check the POC website.

I have a more entertaining one.... fear the mighty ORGs.

http://www.helmets.org/bicyclingmag1305.htm

Well duh. I know when I rode motorcycles, the purpose was to protect
My face or skull from cracking. Years of boxing taught me head gear doesn't protect against concussions. When I was in driving school I was told that many fatalities involving seatbelt a are due to rapid deceleration. Yes your body stops with the assistance of the belt. But your organs do not. And they suffer trauma or complete destruction.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qus2wiRUVBw


Concussion? Maybe?....split skull open with brains leaking out? nope.

If you invent a helmet to prevent concussions you'd be a very rich man, think hockey, NFL. Our brains are suspended in liquid. If you hit your head it gets 'sprained' by sloshing around. No helmet can prevent that, and yes I have a scott mips helmet but I wouldn't want to test it out. The poc helmets also have softer Eva to absorb some energy.

To me that goes without saying. How can you safely slow down a brain from 20 mph to nil over a distance of three inches?

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Pain is inevitable. Suffering is up to you.

I think it comes to weight being a factor too. Take a look at the helmets currently used in football with the special cushioning (air/gel like). It has been awhile but I remember those helmets being a lot heavier than the helmets we currently use that have a few foam pads and a suspended fit system. People complain about their necks being sore from wearing these helmets, can you imagine how sore it would be with a helmet that ways 2-3 times as much? I think most people would stay away from those helmets since most people would not do the necessary neck strengthening exercises.

I can live with a concussion (hehe), it's the permanent brain damage and/or traumatic head injury part I am trying to avoid. :)

Duh. A serious concussion could leave you with long term disabilities and be unable to work. Concussion is a traumatic brain injury.

The helmets in football don't work either. In fact you don't even have to hit your head to get a concussion. Any rapid deceleration will do it. If such a helmet existed to protect against traumatic brain injury we should all wear it. Trust me on that one.

Me too. Top of my head hit the pavement first. Scraped a good half inch off the helmet shell in a 4x4" area and broke in about 10 spots.. Got a concussion. Got transient amnesia. Got a broken neck. The concussion was the least of my concern. Helmet did its job in that my brain isn't on a road somewhere and absorbed enough impact that I did't have any spinal cord injury and walked out of the ICU after a few days. Doctors said I would have not walked out w/o a proper helmet.

I will take that "excellent job of preventing catastrophic injury and death." protection today's helmet standards provide. I will take a concussion over death any day.

The new helmets do prevent some of the head trauma. Nothing is ever going to prevent it but the certainly help. I don't think cycling helmets do much but they at least help against major trauma.

Duh back to yourself...I understand the repercussions of a concussion and was just injecting a little humor...Lighten up.

I don't think anyone is saying not to wear a helmet, the point is that we should be aware if the risks of traumatic brain injury even with a helmet.

You're right, I really should lighten up about being out of work for over six months and being in pain for the last 12 months and counting.

What's entertaining about it? Seems like a rational critique of the Bicycling article.

No, I am saying to me, a helmets most important function is to protect me from catastrophic injury and death, not protecting me against a concussion. That is why "I" wear a helmet.

Nothing on the outside is going to change how your brain sloshes to a halt for a given skull deceleration, what a helmet does is to improve the manner in which the head is brought to rest, exchanging a short sharp skull deceleration for a longer deceleration of lower magnitude. And as someone else has already posted, there's a limit to what you can achieve in a couple of inches of safety hat. It is definitely a case of Baby Bear's porridge - too big an impact (Daddy Bear) and the helmet will bottom out and there is very little benefit, for a small impact (Mummy Bear) there is very little for the helmet to do although the superficial damage to the helmet exterior may lead one to think it's saved one's life - imagine if that had been my (polystyrene) skull - I'd have definitely been killed. And for a narrow band somewhere in between is an impact for which protection is needed and a CPSC/CE1078 can protect rather than being overwhelmed with kinetic energy it can't dissipate.

+1.

The way I understand it, x = vt + 1/2at^2, and hopefully a helmet's small but nonzero "x" will give us a break on an otherwise concussion-inducing "a". I bet there's room for helmet engineering improvement but I'm sure there's at least a little bit of concussion protection already.

Alex

I'd prefer the alternative equation u^2 = v^2 - 2as Cycle helmet is engineered of thickness s such that u velocity when helmet runs out of useful travel = 0 for impact speed ~12mph and deceleration ~250g = dazed but no permanent damage. If you want to avoid concussion, I've no idea how much lower the deceleration would have to be (let's say 100g for discussion), but as s and u don't change, the maximum useful speed v drops too. So the 12mph impact is slowed at 100g or whatever until s is used up and u is still much greater than 0, then the deceleration rockets up. Unfortunately Schroedinger didn't bake a cake, so under classical physics we can't have our cake and eat it.

The helmet does not stop your brain hitting the inside of your skull. It might in some circumstances cause your brain to spin inside the skull more than if your were not wearing helmet. The helmet increases the area that can receive a glancing blow so in some circumstances the helmet increases the chances of the head hitting something.

The risk of head injury is actually very small. In my opinion helmets provide a false sense of security and encourage risk taking.

Helmets dehumanise the cyclist which encourages motorists to dislike cyclists.

Helmets are a ridiculous overreaction to very minimal risk.