‘ HELMET USE CAN CUT SPINE INJURY RISK DURING MISHAP’

Washington, March 6: Wearing a helmet may significantly reduce the risk of cervical spine injury during motorcycle crashes, a study has found.

Despite claims that helmets do not protect the cervical spine during a motorcycle crash and may even increase the risk of injury, researchers found that, helmet use lowers the likelihood of cervical spine injury ( CSI), particularly fractures of the cervical vertebrae.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics in the US reviewed the charts of 1,061 patients who had been injured in motorcycle crashes and treated at a trauma centre in Wisconsin.

Of those patients, 323 ( 30.4 per cent) were wearing helmets at the time of the crash and 738 ( 69.6 per cent) were not, according to the study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine. Wisconsin law does not require all riders to wear a helmet.

At least one CSI was sustained by 7.4 per cent of the riders wearing a helmet and 15.4 per cent of those not wearing one.

This difference in percentages is statistically significant, researchers said. Cervical spine fractures occurred more often in patients who were not wearing helmets ( 10.8 per cent compared to 4.6 per cent), as did ligament injuries ( 1.9 per cent compared with 0.3 per cent).