Skatepark and Helmets

After two years after hearing about it, we finally made time to visit our local skatepark. With bike and skateboard in hand we headed out to the Knoxville Skatepark for an afternoon of thrill-seeking.

With so many people there we took our time, scouting out the place for the areas we could and areas we shouldn't ride. Plus it also gave us time to see who to avoid (if you have been to a skatepark you know what I mean). After a while watching we ventured onto the concrete to try a few stunts.

As a dad, safety is foremost on my mind especially as my son's skills get better (amazing)... we were fully padded. But we were clearly the minority. The only ones wearing gear were kids. Puzzling to me as even when I was a teen riding without "nagging parents" around, we always wore helmets and knee pads. And with rumors of receiving tickets from police who were constantly circling only added to my confusion. I suppose it is a new time when cool trumps all.

Either way, my son was NOT going to ride without a helmet. Scaring his dad (doing the same tricks I did at that age) was a strange bitter-sweet feeling of amazement and terror.

As soon as I had convinced myself to stop being an over-protective dad, the other "old guy" there decided to show his grandson "how it's done" You know the rest of the story... he went off a jump and over the handlebars landing on his forehead. Blood everywhere. The teens scattered (either from feeling sick or knowing the ticket-giving cops would soon be showing up.) While calming the guy down and checking for shock, I was thinking how clear it was what happens when you don't wear a helmet.

But as paramedics strapped him to the neck board, I remembered an article I had read recently that claimed that bike helmets not only did not help but actually hurt people. Crazy? Yes and no. The article stated that few people ever hit their head on the top, the area where helmets cover. It suggested that if a rider landed on his face for instance, the helmet hitting adds an exaggerated bend in the neck that causes higher numbers of spine injures. Watching the ambulance leave, I am wondered if a helmet could have changed the guys' injuries. He more than likely he would not have had the gash above his eye but if we believe the article, might have sustained a neck injury. If we think of the worst case scenario, we are increasing our risk of becoming paralyzed from the neck down but decreasing our risk of instant death. So, I suppose we have to decide which we feel is worse.

What I do know is that both times I have had big crashes as an adult, I have hit my cheek. And this was also true of "Stunt Grandpa." And of my son's two big crashes going over the handlbars, one ended with a dent in the front of his helmet and the other with a broken arm (the bike came over on him even though he didn't have on his helmet). So of the four wrecks, only one clearly would have helped a head injury. But if we have a 25% of hitting our heads in our future accidents, I am going to be serious about those odds.

Since that day I have noticed that many BMXers (online, not at our park) wear motorcycle-style helmets that protect the face. It certainly makes sense... covering both head and face. And a full helmet would not have the neck-twist of a traditional bike helmet. So, the hunt is on for a helmet that will really protect my son while doing high-risk riding. Hopefully he will actually wear it when I am not around to nag him to do so.