well I wrote to smartpak today, we’ll see if it does any good.
I like the look of the Prism. Dover said they don’t pre-order products. I emailed Smartpak too, so we’ll see.
Perhaps a naive question from someone who’s never bought high-end products: does an $890 helmet like this one have any special safety features or is the price just about fashion?
At that price it better jump off your head, put down a bed of feathers then throw itself back on!
For any of you with a few hours to kill, we aired this House hearing on sports safety and brain injuries at work last night, and I got to do most of it.
I thought it was an interesting look at what other sports (namely hockey and football) are doing to address the issue of head injuries. I had no idea football helmets were “reconditioned” and used for years rather than replaced! Also interesting was testimony from a few of the doctors and physicist that sports helmets weren’t designed to prevent concussions, merely to prevent skull fractures. It made me wonder what can change there, as that seems to be the much more common injury.
[QUOTE=gr8fulrider;7488575]
Perhaps a naive question from someone who’s never bought high-end products: does an $890 helmet like this one have any special safety features or is the price just about fashion?[/QUOTE]
It’s all fashion, with the same safety features as an $89. helmet.
[QUOTE=Lori T;7488247]
EXACTLY! We are taking pre-orders from retailers for the Prism and hope to have it here this summer. You have to demand that stores carry the latest technology. They don’t think people want to buy it. Dover actually has dropped the Matrix from their lineup.[/QUOTE]
I never even saw it in a Dover catalog (or even on their website), and I was looking.
Well something must have happened because when I bought my Matrix last night it was on closeout for $99. I then wanted to post the link to help get them out there and they jumped up to $129 and Dover no longer has them listed on Closeout.
someone mentioned bloodwork for TBI monitoring. i can’t say I know of anything specifically for monitoring via labs and if there was something, i wonder if lab corp or pac lab would have it AND how much people would pay out of pocket for it.
@JenEm: too tired to watch it, but know that Virginia Tech has been monitoring concussive forces in their football players helmets. also just read a NYT (i think or Wash Post.) article on OTC helmet concussion monitoring anyone can buy. my husband plays and coaches lacrosse and it’s definitely something a few parents have asked him about, so he deferred to me.
La Chasse, thanks for picking up on this. I’ll see if I can find a reference, but I think the test is still considered experimental. It tests for the T-tau protein as a biomarker for concussion.
Here 'tis: http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1846623
I think that the trick would be getting insurers to pay for it as they would for any other blood test that might reveal a problem. Certainly cheaper than an MRI!
You can order the Back on Track helmet to have shipped to the US. I got one after reading the research and needing/wanting something that looks traditional for foxhunting.
http://www.mustang.dk/beklaedning/hjelme/eq2-ridehjelm-fra-back-on-track.html
artsmom - how does the BOT one fit? round? oval?
A friend of mine came off a young horse that tripped and almost fell over. She hit her head on the ground from the side. She did have a skull fracture and thank God she recovered 100%. When I took her helmet to show to the neuro-surgeons at the Trauma center, they had comments that really shocked me. Her helmet was top of line (won’t say the manufacturer). Both trauma-surgeons (one is the best in NJ) noted that the helmet DID NOT have a deformable liner. They noted that deformable liners are in most helmets used in contact sports. They explained that the deformable liner buffers the impact and reduces that whip lash that the brain experiences inside the skull in head trauma accidents. I had never even heard of this. Also they noted that the riding helmet would provide protection from a front, top or back impact. Their concern about the side impact accident (what my friend had) was that the cut out for the ear was reinforced with a hard product. That was exactly where my friend had her fracture. They could not understand why more padding wasn’t at this location and did note that the deformable liner would have prevented much of the impact she experienced. I’ve spent a lot of time on the internet searching for riding helmets with the deformable liner - there are none. I cannot understand why not. Wearing helmets to ride is imperative but assuming the helmets are designed with the best technology available is a false presumption. If contact sports are adopting the deformable liner - why aren’t the companies that produce our riding helmets doing the same?
[QUOTE=ise@ssl;7506664]
… I cannot understand why not. Wearing helmets to ride is imperative but assuming the helmets are designed with the best technology available is a false presumption. If contact sports are adopting the deformable liner - why aren’t the companies that produce our riding helmets doing the same?[/QUOTE]
I think your surgeons are not very educated on helmet design and what deformable materials are. All equestrian helmets have deformable liners. Many surgeons are not very educated on engineering and failure to reduce impact, although they like to think they are. I deal with this everyday at the hospital. I wuold NEVER tell a surgeon how to do their job. I would hope they wouldn’t try to tell me how to do mine. BUT, we can work together to create better understanding and better products. To this end, we in Orthopedics at CU are working to create a Center of Equestrian Safety that looks across ALL disciplines to foster better collaboration and cooperation in understanding and developing safety products based on data from real world applications.
Charles Owen has and EXTENSIVE library of deformable liner materials and how much energy they absorb on impact. Roy Burek, who is on the ASTM helmet committee spent several hours with me showing and going over their data with me at the USEA convention two years ago. The liners used in CO and many other helmets is possibly the BEST out there given the design requirements.
It hasn’t come yet. I’ll let you know.
[QUOTE=tollertwins;7506402]
artsmom - how does the BOT one fit? round? oval?[/QUOTE]
RAyers - they aren’t MY surgeons. They are the surgeons who treated my friend and extremely well credentialed men. LOOK inside the helmets and feel the liner that is in them. It’s not that forgiving. And it isn’t just a coincidence that the skull fracture line in my friend’s situation follows the rather hard liner around the opening for the ear.
Virginia Tech has done a study on the cumulative affect on the brain from impact in contact sports. They have come up with a liner that has a light indicator on a tab at the back that registers impact on incident and also cumulative impact. As we all know people with even a severe concussion can very often continue to actively play in a sport and not even remember the event. This work at VT would give feedback to be able to prevent injured players from continuing to play.
What indicators do we have in equestrian sport??
Your quote " The liners used in CO and many other helmets is possibly the BEST out there given the design requirements". A rather sweeping statement… don’t you think? Just my personal observation but the helmets are NOT providing adequate protection specifically for accidents where the rider had impact on the side of the helmet.
[QUOTE=artsmom;7507523]
It hasn’t come yet. I’ll let you know.[/QUOTE]
Who did you order it from?
They can have all the credentials they want, but they’re just plain wrong. All manufacturers as far as I know use deformable liners - that is why helmets are ‘one-use-only’ products. The ASTM testing standard is measuring a performance when the helmet is dropped with a headform, and the helmet must absorb that force somehow.
If look up the information about the helmet in question, I think you’ll find that it does in fact have a deformable liner.
Certainly it is possible that this particular helmet may not have been optimal for this particular blow/injury. If they have data they would like to share with the ASTM committee, that certainly seems like a service.
But the statement, “didn’t use a deformable liner and should have” is incorrect.
The indicators are potentially a great idea. They are new and experimental as far as I know, not something that is yet unleashed as a production commodity.
Where does one go to get information on which helmets have the best safety standards? I’m finding it hard to wade through each manufacturer’s claims. Have any articles been published on the current technologies being used?
I ask because I’ve been out of the game for a while and just went to Dover a few years ago and have no idea how good their fitter actually was and I have no idea how to go about picking a helmet. I know mine is ATSM/SEI certified but don’t know if I should be buying something that has multiple certifications.
I just got my Matrix helmet today. I actually found it on Amazon. I bought it to replace my Speed Air, which took a tumble with my daughter over the weekend. I loved the Speed Air, but didn’t love the price, and the fact that I was tempted to keep using it since the fall was relatively minor (thank God) and the helmet was insanely expensive. Obviously I’m ditching the Speed Air, and will keep future helmets at a lower price point so it’s not so painful to do the right thing. I’m anxious to try the Matrix out tomorrow.
[QUOTE=d_e;7508974]
Where does one go to get information on which helmets have the best safety standards? I’m finding it hard to wade through each manufacturer’s claims. Have any articles been published on the current technologies being used?
I ask because I’ve been out of the game for a while and just went to Dover a few years ago and have no idea how good their fitter actually was and I have no idea how to go about picking a helmet. I know mine is ATSM/SEI certified but don’t know if I should be buying something that has multiple certifications.[/QUOTE]
There is no reliable information to be had beyond the ASTM/SEI certification at this point. This conehead technology in the Matrix is pretty interesting. It’s frustrating if you want to buy on safety that you cannot.
