Helmet Brands - Post Concussion

[TrackCage]

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.

I too use the Sharp rating, but am finding some of the newer helmets are not in their database yet (last I checked).

OP, helmet sounds like it did a good job. If it were me (based on limited info given) I would trust the same brand again

 

[ilikefood]

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.

No. Not at all. The primary function of a helmet is to reduce the G forces experienced by your brain. If you crack your skull by hitting your head on flat pavement, the forces your brain experiences would kill you anyway (impacts with sharp objects are a different story).

You're sort of right about "high-energy impacts", but you need to define your terms here. If you t-bone a car and hit the door frame at 60 mph, or hit a tree with your head, then yeah, no helmet will save you from that high-energy impact. But that's not the purpose of a helmet anyway. The purpose of a helmet is to make it possible for you to survive your head falling on pavement from a height of about 6 or 7 ft. Without a helmet this could kill you or at least scramble your brain. With a helmet, the energy absorbed by crushing the helmet's EPS lining by a couple inches turns a deadly impact into something that you can survive (maybe with a concussion).

A couple math points (in metric, because that's easier to calculate): If you fall off your bike and your head hits the ground without you bracing yourself, your head will hit the ground moving at about 5 m/s. Without a helmet, your head will come to a complete stop in a distance of about 1 cm, as skin and bone absorb some of the impact. That will deliver 1,250 G to your brain, and you'll die. With a helmet, your head might come to a complete stop in a distance of about 7 cm. That will deliver 178 G to your brain, which is survivable. (These are of course very simplistic calculations, but they capture the idea of how helmets work)

That's what helmets are supposed to do - keep you from dying when you fall down and hit your head.

 

[Honey Badger]

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.

The fit, weight and the shape of the helmet is probably something that can protect you even more.

Unfortunately I've crash tested a helmet a couple times, and one of them was a pretty extreme test - the other was a completely different kind of situation. In both cases I was wearing the same brand/model of helmet, because after the first one I didn't want to put my head in anything else. What it saved me from probably saved my life.

That being said, in both cases I had a concussion - first was full on knock out, second was just memory loss and a lack of a record button for the day

I will continue to wear the same helmet for the time being until I can find something that fits just as well. Found out this weekend that the Bell fits my head as well as my X12, none of the others I'd be willing to wear came close to fitting my head shape.

Fit is my first and primary concern. Then I will go with crash test ratings (preferably independent ones if they are out there), and finally features. My last concern is cost - and I'm doing this on a pretty extreme budget, so for me to say cost isn't a factor is saying something

 

[kongjie]

That being said, in both cases I had a concussion - first was full on knock out, second was just memory loss and a lack of a record button for the day

Same thing happened to me on a bicycle. Blacked out and then later in the hospital was unable to figure out the month. Still using the same model bicycle helmet--a new one, of course, but same make and model.

 

[Lunch Box]

Fit is my first and primary concern. Then I will go with crash test ratings (preferably independent ones if they are out there), and finally features. My last concern is cost - and I'm doing this on a pretty extreme budget, so for me to say cost isn't a factor is saying something

This is an EXCELLENT approach to helmet selection.

 

[ircsmith]

after a crash I had I was not happy with the amount of head trauma I sustained and the condition of the helmet. the helmet looks pretty good, yet I was out for 30 min and had to stay in the hospital for a day with a severe concussion.

I started to do a bit of reading and will most likely be avoiding helmets with a SNELL rating. granted the 2010 is better than the 2005 but I have been wearing ECE rated helmets lately

google ece 22-05 vs snell and read for yourself.

 

[Lunch Box]

I'm a big fan of ECE certification, and value it above Snell/DOT. I still like the way that the Sharp studies are conducted, first and foremost.

 

[sebastacruz]

Highsided 5 weeks ago doing about 70 wearing an AGV. Landed head first then onto my shoulder. I remained conscious and didn't break anything, just some rad swelling and bruising.

For what it's worth I only felt wonky in the head for a week or two, but according to my doctor the impact was enough to knock something loose in my vestibular system (BPPV). Now I get rad vertigo all the time, and it may not go away for another few months... Totally worth it all things considered, I can walk, talk, and ride.