No Helmets in Figure Skating?

TallyT · Mar 2, 2019

VegMom said:
What I think will really change the game is a special helmet designed for figure skating. Something that is lightweight, has a strap (so it won't slip off in fast spins or jumps), allows air and doesn't trap sweat, protects the back of the head area that is the most common for head injuries, and looks fashionable.

Trust me, as someone who comes from a country where helmets are compulsory for bike riders -?

There is no such thing as a fashionable or attractive one. No matter how the makers try and spin it. They can be jazzed up and made reasonable, and you can get used to seeing them, but they are what they are, you might as well try and design sexy and appealing kneepads.

If you bring in compulsory helmets (or pretty much any other safety gear), then the music, the programs, the artistry, the dresses and the spectacle may as well be thrown out at the same time, because helmets will simply negate them all. It will simply come down in the future to how people perceive the worth of the music, the programs, the artistry, the dresses and the spectacle. I can't see it being mandatory (certainly not in Russia or Japan, where the sport is biggest) unless you turn it into a completely different creature. A utilitarian one.

But hey, maybe that will be a spinoff new sport...

karne · Mar 2, 2019

What the people pushing helmets seem to forget is that hitting your head is not the only way to get a concussion.

The concussion that ruined Joshua's career was a whiplash concussion.

No helmet in the world is going to stop those, short of trussing the skater up in a motorsport-style HANS device and even those only stop forward-and-backwards motion of the head, not side-to-side.

wobblepro · Mar 2, 2019

TallyT said:
But hey, maybe that will be a spinoff new sport...

Some kind of mashup between ice cross downhill, freestyle snowboarding, and figure skating?

Mathman · Mar 2, 2019

TallyT said:
There is no such thing as a fashionable or attractive one.

Equestrian helmets are cool. (Of course, not everyone wants to skate to the William Tell Overture.)

https://ca.hellomagazine.com/imagen...lips-horse-riding/0-68-807/zara-riding--a.jpg

You could also design a helmet that looks like a fashionable hat. That is, it would be a kind of hat reinforced on the inside, pretty on the outside.

When the law first came out requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets, I had a friend who bought a motorcycle helmet, then glued some hair on top, so when he whizzed by he looked like he was bareheaded with locks like Thor (and also a big head). Then he would spot a policeman and ride back and forth in front of him, hoping the officer would pull him over for the helmet law so he could say, "Ha, ha, I fooled you!"

It didn't work. A cop pulled him over and told him, "I see that stupid contraption you have on your head, but take it to someone else's beat or I'll run you in."

cohen-esque · Mar 2, 2019

Helmets don’t seem to be fantastic protection against concussions in the first place, but they especially don’t help against some of the causes of brain injury that are especially prevalent in figure skating and a lot of other winter sports, à la Karne’s example of Josh Farris’s whiplash concussion, or Lucinda Ruh’s spinning concussions. And the prevalence of injuries that helmets help prevent decreases while the prevalence of those they don’t prevent increases, as you progress to higher skill levels.

But at low skill levels they they do a good job of preventing head injuries (not the same as brain injuries) in other sports and I can’t think of a reason that would change in figure skating, so that could be a reason to encourage helmets at least for beginners.

jf12 said:
Pairs has always seemed super dangerous to me too, but there’s also the risk, like when American football players moved to big helmets, that they just try more and more dangerous things when they think they have broad protection, when in fact helmets can only prevent a subset of brain injuries.

I think generally studies contradict this, actually: people who wear helmets in sports where they aren’t really prevalent probably tend to be more cautious and avoid riskier scenarios in the first place. Wearing a helmet is correlated with a lower likelihood to sustain head injuries but it’s *also* associated with a lower risk of other, non-head injuries which a helmet can’t protect against at all. (Just anecdotally, I think you can sort of see that dynamic at play in this thread.)

VegMom · Mar 3, 2019

TallyT said:
If you bring in compulsory helmets (or pretty much any other safety gear), then the music, the programs, the artistry, the dresses and the spectacle may as well be thrown out at the same time, because helmets will simply negate them all. It will simply come down in the future to how people perceive the worth of the music, the programs, the artistry, the dresses and the spectacle. I can't see it being mandatory (certainly not in Russia or Japan, where the sport is biggest) unless you turn it into a completely different creature. A utilitarian one.

But hey, maybe that will be a spinoff new sport...

You don't have to throw out the baby with the bathwater!
Figure skating culture is so very all-or-nothing. It's so bizarre to me that it feels like so many people in the culture are very stuck-in-the-box thinkers. People wear head protection in plenty of sports where aesthetics is still a big part of the sport - equestrian, skateboarding... But more to the point, we need technological advances in head protection that would provide a more aesthetic look. Just throwing your hands up in the air and claiming 'it can't be done' is foolish. Nothing is ever improved with that attitude.

Concussions in skating are real and worth trying to prevent. Brainstorming about the best methods is one thing. Ignoring the problem and just acting like there's nothing we can do is another. Choose the first.

Possible solutions:
- helmets as a normal thing skaters wear
- helmet alternatives, like protective caps
- rules that don't allow the most dangerous elements
- padding/protection at base of spine
- padding/protection along entire spine
- better concussion protocol to be followed by coaches and referees
- better concussion prevention education given to skaters, parents, coaches, etc
- develop culture of wearing more protection during practice, even if no protection during competitions
- better training and enforcement of rink safety rules (eg no more than X number of skaters on the ice at a time, etc)
- technological advances
- more encouragement of off ice training that increases muscle development that's spine-protective

hanyuufan5 · Mar 3, 2019

cohen-esque said:
But at low skill levels they they do a good job of preventing head injuries (not the same as brain injuries) in other sports and I can’t think of a reason that would change in figure skating, so that could be a reason to encourage helmets at least for beginners.

They already are encouraged if not required for beginners, and many parents will make their kids wear them even if the rink itself doesn't.

Now that I think about it, if I remember correctly, my mom insisted that I wear one until I pass my first basic skills level, but I ended up testing out of two levels and convincing her to let me stop wearing it after only my second or third lesson, because it was interfering with my skating.

Plus the darn things never fit my big, round head right, which is half the reason I haven't ridden a bike in over a decade. :laugh:

I'm pretty sure the reason I insisted on not wearing one skating was because mine actually rose up a bit on the way down from jumps and then knocked against my head on the landing and hurt. (Yes, I could do waltz jumps in Basic 3. :eek:

IsKAtEFaSt · Mar 3, 2019

VegMom said:
You don't have to throw out the baby with the bathwater!
Figure skating culture is so very all-or-nothing. It's so bizarre to me that it feels like so many people in the culture are very stuck-in-the-box thinkers. People wear head protection in plenty of sports where aesthetics is still a big part of the sport - equestrian, skateboarding... But more to the point, we need technological advances in head protection that would provide a more aesthetic look. Just throwing your hands up in the air and claiming 'it can't be done' is foolish. Nothing is ever improved with that attitude.

Concussions in skating are real and worth trying to prevent. Brainstorming about the best methods is one thing. Ignoring the problem and just acting like there's nothing we can do is another. Choose the first.

Possible solutions:
- helmets as a normal thing skaters wear
- helmet alternatives, like protective caps
- rules that don't allow the most dangerous elements
- padding/protection at base of spine
- padding/protection along entire spine
- better concussion protocol to be followed by coaches and referees
- better concussion prevention education given to skaters, parents, coaches, etc
- develop culture of wearing more protection during practice, even if no protection during competitions
- better training and enforcement of rink safety rules (eg no more than X number of skaters on the ice at a time, etc)
- technological advances
- more encouragement of off ice training that increases muscle development that's spine-protective

I thought the last thing was really interesting. Football players strengthen their neck muscles so there's a lower chance of the neck injury. Certainly worth looking into in figure skating. Just as a side note, a lot of off-ice programs also focuses on core strengthening/calisthenics while ignoring plyometrics and weights that can really help prevent injuries that can occur while jumping.

No Helmets in Figure Skating?

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