11 months ago
SACRAMENTO, CA - Of the thousands of head injuries that occur each year, experts state many are avoidable or can be minimized with helmets.
The benefit of wearing helmets while doing recreational sports was underscored with the skiing accident that severely injured actress Natasha Richardson. She suffered head trauma on Monday while skiing in Canada and died Wednesday.
"It's fair to say the majority of patients we see in this day and age with head injuries could have had a reduction at least in the amount of injury they sustained if they had appropriate helmets on," said Dr. Sam Ciricillo, Medical Director of the Sutter Neuroscience Institute.
Ciricillo said injuries occur when a person's head suffers a hard blow followed by internal bleeding. If medical attention is not sought immediately, the injured person can slip into a coma.
While state laws do not require skiers or snowboarders to wear helmets, some do to avoid injuries.
"I didn't actually wear a helmet the first few times I went snowboarding and I hit my head. It wasn't that big of a deal but definitely makes sense to have a helmet," said Adam Hone of Sacramento.
Bicyclist Reatha White believes a helmet helped prevent serious injury during a collision with a vehicle.
"I had a car turn in front of me and I hit the ground and my helmet, I thought I was okay until I got to work and there was a big crack along the side of it," said White who felt the helmet cushioned the blow to her head.
News10/KXTV
