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Y. Urabe1, M. Morikawa1, N. Maeda1, J. Sasadai2, K. Shigeyuki3, T. Shirakawa4
1Hiroshima University, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima, Japan, 2Japan Institute of Sports Sciences, Tokyo, Japan, 3Hiroshima International University, Hiroshima, Japan, 4Matterhron Rehabilitaion Hospital, Kure, Japan
Background: Helmet use confers the protective value in reducing the risk of injuries in skiers and snowboarders (Cusimano et al., 2010). Meanwhile, helmet use might encourage them to take greater risk due to an increased sense of safety to the user (Mcmillan et al., 2014). Therefore, it is needed to discuss whether wearing a helmet could prevent the injury in snow sports.
Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the current situation for helmet use in ski resorts for 2019- 2020 season.
Methods: A field survey was performed to explore the wearing rate of helmet use in the total of 8 ski resorts at Squaw Valley in USA (1), Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy (1), Hokkaido (3), Nagano (2), and Hiroshima (1) in Japan. This observation was conducted for 10:00-11:00 and 13:00-14:00 at the area of 100~150 meters around the ski lift in each main slope. by video analysis. We calculated the items as follows: the number and rate of skiers or snowboarders, the number and rate of adults or children, the number and rate of helmets or not, the number and rate of helmet use in children.
Results: In Squaw Valley and d'Ampezzo, the numbers of snow-sports players were 712 (within 211 skiers) and 612 (within 157 skiers). The rates of helmet use in their places were almost 90%. In Japan, the numbers of snow-sports players in Hokkaido, Nagano, and Hiroshima were 2,518 (within 1,508 skiers), 918 (within 546 skiers), and 220 (within 104 skiers), respectively. The rates of helmet use in Japan ranged between approximately 25-75%. The rates of skiers and snowboarders in Squaw Valley and Cortina d'Ampezzo were approximately 70% and 75%, but 50−60% in Japan. Importantly, the percentage of helmet use in children was over 70-80% in Squaw Valley and Cortina d'Ampezzo but 20−65% in Japan.
Conclusion(s): Although few ski resorts in other than Japan are likely to make wearing a helmet compulsory, helmet use seems to be common considering the high percentage. Ski resorts in Hokkaido were had a higher percentage of helmet use than other ski resorts in Japan. This is maybe due to the higher percentage of international visitors than domestic. Helmet use relatively seemed not to penetrate into Nagano in subjected ski resorts, especially in snowboarders. Moreover, the worst percentage of helmet use was observed at the ski resort in Hiroshima. The percentage of helmet use in children was higher in Squaw Valley and Cortina d'Ampezzo than Japan. If the parents’ awareness was turned to helmet usage more, the percentage of helmet use would increase.
Implications: Helmet use for prevention of injury in snow sports should be essentially encouraged in Japan, though helmet use looked like spreading out because of international visitors. We need an effective measurement for helmet usage considering the difference of the situation of helmet use in Japan.
Funding, acknowledgements: None.
Keywords: helmet use, snow sports, children
Topic: Sport & sports injuries
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: Hiroshima University
Committee: Ethical Committee at the Matterhorn Rehabilitation Hospital
Ethics number: MRH190012
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
