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Helmet Brands - Post Concussion

M

mdlb

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Joined
Sep 5, 2007
Location
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Street Trip R
Looking for some advice here. On Labor Day I highsided my SV at a track near Denver at ~60 mph. I landed on my shoulder first, head second, then my body bounced (that is what I can figure out from my gear). I ended up breaking both wrists, but the rest of the gear did great and did not have a scratch, burn, bruise on me and minus the helmet all could be worn with no repairs.

Now to my question, as I have had friends voice opinions in both directions. During the crash I suffered a concussion, I was never out (got off the track, took my suit off bf EMS took me to the hospital), but I not remember 6 hours of Labor Day including the wreck or the 15 min prior to the wreck. I was immediately upset that my helmet had not done its "job", but more I thought about it, it did exactly what it was made to do. It saved me and my brain from anything more than a hard bump. I have had friends say the helmet did its job and other say they would try something else.

BARF what do you think? Would you buy the same helmet/brand if you highsided at 60 and ended up with a concussion? Or would you stay away from that brand as another helmet may have protected you better? Currently I am thinking the helmet did its job and am about to purchase another one from the same brand, but wanted to see what everyone else thought prior to dropping another >$500. Thanks
 
absolutely - the role of a helmet it not to prevent all injury but to minimize the damage you sustain.
 
I've been knocked out during a racing incident and woke up in the ambulance. Was held over night due to a concussion and released the next day. The helmet made the situation livable, think of how your head would have sustained the impact sans your brain bucket!! It did its job. :thumbup
 
I don't think a helmet can prevent a concussion. If memory serves a concussion is when your brain collides with your skull because of a severe change in speed--your head as a whole stops but your brain keeps on going.

A helmet stops your skull from cracking open and your brain exiting your cranium. It stops bones from breaking and soft tissue from being damaged.
 
It probably did it job. IE: saved your life.
You have not stated what brand it is.

There may be better. Depending his old it was or if it had any other "bumps" it may not have been at its peak performance.

Bummer on the wrists man. Heal up.
 
Helmets can only do so much, but they will often prevent a concussion in lighter hits and keep your brains from spilling out in a hard hit. No helmet will prevent all possible damage to your head.

There is very little data on one brand of helmet being better than others, so changing brands for improved performance is unlikely to have much effect. They all meet one or both of the standards and should provide similar protection. There is only so much energy that can be absorbed by an inch or so of material.
 
No two crashes are the same so even if you hear other opinions they might not be applicable to you.

More than the brand, pay attention to the fit, certifications (is it only DOT or others as well) and weight. Also, are you paying more money for the graphics and other trick features or for the helmet itself?

The fit, weight and the shape of the helmet is probably something that can protect you even more. I have crashed at high rate of speeds (including a high side) on both Shoei and Suomy and they did great protecting my head.
I now stick with Suomy because they fit my head better and it's also cheaper than the X-11 Shoei.
 
^ what raj said... fitment plays a very important part in mitigating injury (but like what others said, not always preventing)
 
Thanks all, it was a suomy as it fit my head the best of the ones I tried on. Given what I have read I will be buying another one. Thanks
 
i had a incident @ the carousel @ infineon in my rf-1100, i was conscious but lost about 6 hours of memory, i was held in icu for observation and released the next day

imo the helmet saved me from further injury, i believe your helmet did the same
 
As others have said, a concussion is caused by movement of your brain inside your skull and there's not much any moto helmet is going to do to mitigate that in a hard impact. The primary role of a helmet is to prevent skull fracture and minimize external trauma.
 
Archimedes said:
As others have said, a concussion is caused by movement of your brain inside your skull and there's not much any moto helmet is going to do to mitigate that in a hard impact. The primary role of a helmet is to prevent skull fracture and minimize external trauma.
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Actually, a helmet is suppose to mitigate the brain sloshing, by absorbing momentum from the skull to the exterior point of impact. Much of helmet testing is concerned with this, and why some disputed testing has shown that softer helmets were superior to hard shell helmets that protect better from sharp obstruction impacts, because the energy absorb that would hurt the brain was superior.

As an analogy: Look at bicycle helmets. They provide little protection from external objects puncturing the skull, because their primary concern is with impact absorption to minimize internal brain damage.
 
I've had a concussion when I highsided at Buttonwillow. I got up and walked about the rest of the day. But looking back, everything was a fog. At the time I didn't realize I just received a concussion. I thought I just got a hard thump and would tough out the day. I'm happy my helmt did it's job.

If what you got was a concussion, your helmet did it's job.
 
I had a bad wreck in Oct 2010 racing. I was awake through the whole thing. I did have minor head trauma. I was put into a coma for several days. I woke remembering nothing of the accident. My memory cot our about 15 min before the start of my race. The brain has a way of blocking recollection of severe trauma incidents. I was wearing Shoei, I continue to wear the same brand. Not sure what brand you were using but it seems to have done its job.

A
 
Honestly I'd be happy with any helmet brand if it keeps me alive. I don't expect to smack my head on concrete and walk away from it, helmet or not.

I have an Arai because it fits better, has sturdier mechanical bits (it has to if it has to stand the constant battle of changing a faceshield on it), is quieter with vents closed and cooler with them open than my cheaper helmets.

I'm not one to be spendy on a helmet because I think it'll protect me any better than another DOT helmet. I might be more interested in some that pass ECE or SNELL (though I know that is a hot-button issue in itself). And honestly it was the only one in plain red that fit me. xP

I spent more because with any luck I would be wearing it a lot longer than I'd be crashing in it and it is more comfortable. I don't really believe that more expensive helmets = safer helmets.
 
You don't hear the phrase bulletproof to describe body armor. It is bullet-resistant.

Helmets are not crash-proof: they help to protect the brain. The most noticeable feature though is how comfortable it is because you wear it every ride. You hope to never to know how much protection they offer.

Unfortunately you do now.
 
clutchslip said:
Actually, a helmet is suppose to mitigate the brain sloshing, by absorbing momentum from the skull to the exterior point of impact. Much of helmet testing is concerned with this, and why some disputed testing has shown that softer helmets were superior to hard shell helmets that protect better from sharp obstruction impacts, because the energy absorb that would hurt the brain was superior.

As an analogy: Look at bicycle helmets. They provide little protection from external objects puncturing the skull, because their primary concern is with impact absorption to minimize internal brain damage.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the ability of a bike or motorcycle helmet to do that is minimal, and limited to low energy impacts, due both to design constraints and simple physics. No helmet is going to significantly mitigate the concussive force much in a high energy impact. And honestly, in that type of impact, prevention of a skull fracture is the first need anyway.

And as regards bike and ski helmets, they are designed to protect only in low impact collisions, and their role again is to prevent fracture of the skull. Ski helmet manufacturers specifically state this in their literature.
 
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There simply isn't enough information to determine how much the helmet helped you. Most of the major helmet brands are pretty solid. I trust the SHARP safety ratings, and tend to buy helmets based largely on their study results. I feel that an often overlooked facet of helmet selection is fitment. A person could have the best helmet in the world, but if it doesn't fit him/her then it is going to do a sub-optimal job. I would wager that a decent helmet that fits perfectly is going to be superior, in most instances, to a great one that is not. Lastly, if the SHARP studies are as meaningful as I think they are, price does not necessarily indicate quality.
 
mdlb,

one thing i want to know... does the helmet fit looser now that uve crashed it? if so, the foam is crushed in and it did its job. if not, perhaps a diff helmet could have helped a little more.

Archimedes said:
Yes, but the ability of a bike or motorcycle helmet to do that is minimal, and limited to low energy impacts, due both to design constraints and simple physics. No helmet is going to significantly mitigate the concussive force much in a high energy impact. And honestly, in that type of impact, prevention of a skull fracture is the first need anyway.
Click to expand...

a helmet reduces the deceleration and therefore the forces sustained by the head and the brain in ALL impacts. even if the foam doesnt compress (though it should), the shell still deforms and slows down your head slower. it doesnt matter if u think it cant do much... the simple fact is that it DOES do something.

based on personal experience and knowing how hard i have to hit my head to get a concussion, id say that helmets have prevent me from having 3 or 4 more concussions.
 
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