Why do you think one needs a helmet while riding a bicycle or skating or horse riding or even playing?Well,some say that helmets are unnecessary as they cannot save a persons life or prevent accidents.True,safety helmets cannot prevent or stop accidents but they can in some measure safe a persons life when met with an accident.
According to the statistics calculated recently in U.S, about one fourth of the people brought in emergency rooms have head injuries and one out of every eight of them are reported to have brain injuries. This may not have happened had they been wearing a safety helmet. So at least brain injury would have been prevented which would eventually cause death.
A single head injury can also make a person handicapped for life. Even while at work especially where there are a lot of construction work, a safety helmet is a must. It should be the responsibility of the employer to provide these helmets to his employees as many to prevent any such head injuries.
Choosing the right helmet:
There are different kinds of safety helmet available as different sports require different helmets. But the key here is to wear the right fitting. A loose helmet cannot protect the head as much as fitted ones. A helmet should always fit the persons head. It should touch the head all the way around and should be stable enough that even in jerks it should not move.
When it comes to buying for kids many a times we tend to feel that we should get a bigger one as they would grow anyways but that is wrong. The brand is also important. One should never compromise on price when it comes to safety. Comfort is another thing that you should keep in mind as if it is not comfortable then you are very unlikely to wear it also.
All parents, coaches, trainers and organizers should be made aware of this safety precaution. A lot of injuries also occur during horse riding and the statistics of accidents is very alarming. Even though other factors may also be involved from falling off a horse like slipping and back riding but the height from which the person falls is what jeopardizes the injury. If he falls from a height of 2 feet he is likely to have brain damage but if he falls from a greater height as the horse tends to elevate him up to 8 feet from the ground then his skull would be shattered. So, one should never ride a horse without wearing a safety helmet.
Bicycle helmets are made from foam polystyrene, and this polystyrene though is rigid it can be molded into virtually any shape. This can be easily damaged by crushing as it has a quite a high number of tiny air pockets. This process of crushing absorbs energy thus making it ideal for the construction of bicycle helmets. This helmets tend to get a bit warm during hot days but nowadays there are more expensive ones that are available and these helmets have more air vents to keep you cool but this can reduce the amount of energy absorbed as the amount of polystyrene is reduced.
Whether wearing a helmet is necessary or not depends on the individual. But you should never underestimate the use of it because there are benefits of using a safety helmet. It is always better to take precautions then suffer the consequences. You should take responsibity of young ones in your family and educate them about safety helmets after all it is always better to have knowledge about things then be careless about it. Always wear helmets and be safe. |
