I've tried them I didn't like the whistling wind noise I experienced, couldn't hear the boat, what the driver was doing etc I like to hear everything out there, it plays into my riding experience. To each their own. My crew doesn't ride with helmets on the wake Whoever said snowboarding above - I feel that is different. I almost always wear a helmet when I snow ski. It's an interesting debate and I see both sides but I always wear a Helmet now and I'll explain why.
I should start by saying I was always against helmets for most sports, and especially for wakeboarding always using the argument "It will make neck injuries worse".
I had a Raley go bad a few years ago took it past to almost and took a heel side back edge digger on impact, resulting in a concussion, complete KO, and my face under the water for a couple minutes. The guys on the boat had to pull me out, and do CPR and chest compressions for apx 2 minutes while on the phone with I came too and immediately starting throwing up blood and water.
Liters of it. It was very scary. Spent a few days in the hospital with a collapsed lung and whiplash. The whiplash lasted a good year. I had a vest, a dry suit on and no helmet.
What I took away was that when I hit the water, my body stopped immediately due to large surface area and the buoyancy of the body combined with the vest and the air in the dry suit but when my head hit, because it was smaller, and more dense, it kept going back causing the whiplash and the KO. I mean no one can say for sure, but I believe it was the whiplash that caused the concussion, not the initial impact. When I asked the doctor, they of course said I should wear a helmet and that it would help but I was very skeptical.
Since that day I have always worn a helmet and I have truly seen a difference on these types of falls. The helmet cushions the head during the fall and slows the head down to a similar rate as the body.
I have taken that same type of fall and literally came up with a smile on my face because my head was fine. I think the best thing to try is actually riding with a helmet and seeing if it effects you positively or negatively. I actually prefer it now. And it's another place to put stickers. Originally Posted by s. Before you know it we will be banning anyone with a big head from riding for health and safety reasons.
I agree with the difference in surface area not being a big issue either. The absorption of impact through a lid rather than your skull will far out weigh the negatives from bigger surface area.
When wakeboarding, you are subject to injury. Ive hit hard without a helmet, Ive hit hard with a helmet. Ive been bucketed, and ive been cut open. I dont think one can say that trading one set of injury potential for another is either positive or negative.
People who wear helmets attempt to prevent concussion in one way, but invite it in another, and vise versa. For every fall you take that a helmet would have helped, you take one where a helmet would have hurt you. Everyone must look at their own riding and decide which side they might be more suceptable to and lean that way. Some people may be more of an edge catcher beginner , while others may be more of a bail out of a flip head first more advanced.
Helmets may be better suited for one thatn the other. Most importantly, we must respect each others decision to do whats best for themselves. If Im on a river wakeboarding where there is greater potential for logs and whatnot in the water, helmet. If Im hitting sliders anywhere, helmet. If Im kiteboarding in open water, no helmet. I have a helmet and I like it. I use it for laceration protection. However, I have a much greater head first bucket risk than I do a edge catch risk when riding behind the boat.
Still don't get this idea that a helmet can "invite " concussion. My head, my boat, my experience and my rules. I take hard diggers because I suck at wake boarding. I had four concussions without a helmet. The last 3 years, still lots of diggers and a few bell ringers but zero three day headaches or even day ending concussion type head slaps while wearing my helmet. Thats good enough for me. Back edges are extremely helpful. I do allot of those.
My two boys and any other kid on my boat wear helmets because the 9 year old took a front edge, three day headache and sat out the last two weeks of spring football. Starting QB too. His coach chewed my ass for that one. The 12 year old goes big and is fearless. He is trying inverts and spins and seems not to have any nerve endings. He wears a helmet because I said so.. All other kids wear one because I don't want to explain to some kids mom what the scorpion effect is from the ER waiting room.
In his head??!!! Scorpion what?? Amazon has the new triple 8 wake helmets for 40 bucks. Yep 40 bucks and the kids are used to them from skating anyway. Your over 18 you can do whatever you want. I wont even bring the subject up. But if you would like to borrow a helmet I'm sure i have one to fit you.. I've had 3 concussions wakeboarding.
The first, I was wearing a helmet and caught a toe edge learning a raley at the cable. I whiplashed and took it to the chin. The second was the day after I learned my first toe off 5 and I didn't get the board to trip and took it to the chin again.
I wasn't wearing a helmet. I'm on my third concussion as of last week. Only fifth hit at the wake, warming up on a crow a trick I've done maybe a thousand times by now , went too big and caught the nose. I'm relatively certain I hit the side of my head. Wasn't wearing a helmet on that one either. On the two that caught my toe edge once with a helmet and once without and hit chin first, I'm certain a helmet wouldn'tve helped or had a negative effect.
On my last fall where I hit the side of my head, I wished I was wearing one. I'm pretty sure the padding would've prevented the concussion. Most of the time I'm able to dive in head first, and I can feel the increased force on my neck when I have a lid on. I don't know what I'm going to do yet when I heal up and ride again. One thing I can say for sure is, I'm not against wearing a helmet because I think it makes me look stupid. Oh man Jon. That had to hurt.
If that was a failed 3 and that was a back edge you have a picture of my typical set Hope you get back in the saddle. Now, I use a helmet all the time and have not hit my head nearly as hard. I would wear one just for the ear drum protection.
Just my 2 cents I wish the helmet I bought had the ear protection, didn't really think about that when I bought the thing Christmas is coming Yes, that's just because I live in earth quake country though. I don't wear a helmet but then again I have busted the same ear drum twice on HS3's. The ear drum problem can be solved with the moldable earplugs made from wax that you cover the ear canal instead of put in the ear but I don't wear those either.
I think I would wear the helmet if I had one for the eardrum protection. Maybe I should get one. Conclusive decision? You most likely have to wear one free riding? The criticism I always hear of helmets other than comfort is increasing the risk of neck injuries.
Has anyone even heard of someone suffering a bad neck injury while wearing a helmet? Obviously this wouldn't mean the neck injury wouldn't have been just as bad without the helment, but if nobody can even come up with a single incident of a bad neck injury while wearing a helmet, I feel I can safely dismiss the neck injury fear as unsubstantiated.
I have no doubt the helmet is good for protecting against blows to the head and ruptured ear drums. I have one huge noggin and it needs to be protected! I have seen a 2 people really slice up there ear while boarding, helmets would have definitely prevented the injury. I think many wakeboard schools require the use of a helmet, which might tell you something. As far as neck injuries due to the helmet use.
I would think that is highly unlikely, the weight of our head is much greater than any wakeboard helmet, wearing a helmet I would not think would increase the inertia of your head that much. A few of our local pros claim that they have suffered neck sprains while wearing helmets, but how often this actually happens is unclear.
The better you are at wakeboarding, the more you need a helmet. Especially people who are doing crazy flips at high speeds are more susceptible to injury than those who are doing tail grabs. In the study that I was explaining above, Many of which were head injuries. If you are wakeboarding through park obstacles, helmets are an absolute must. Most wakeboarding helmets are pretty similar, but I would recommend getting one that has ear protection like the one in the picture below.
You can find that helmet here on Amazon. The reason you want ear protection on a helmet is that when you fall on the side of your head, regular helmets may cause a cupping effect with the water, making injuries such as a ruptured eardrum very likely. Not all kids will think helmets are cool, but many professional wakeboarders wear them.
In an article from psychologytoday.
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