Turbans can be as effective as cycle helmets in crashes

TURBANS can be as effective or better than cycling helmets at protecting against some head injuries, experts have found.

Sikhs are often exempt from wearing helmets because they are incompatible with their religious headdress, but it was unknown whether the layers of fabric offered any protection.

Some turbans are folded from almost 32ft of fabric, which can form a barrier against knocks to the head. To test their effectiveness, Imperial College London and the Sikh Scientists Network wrapped turbans around the heads of crash test dummies and subjected them to cycling-style collisions.

They found that turbans reduced the risk of skull fractures in areas covered with a thick layer of fabric, compared to bare heads and in some cases appearing more protective than helmets.

Writing in the journal Annals of Biomedical Engineering, the team concluded: “Overall, while helmets generally offer better performance than turbans, certain turbans displayed comparable or even superior performance in one or more injury metrics.”

The team found the style of turban affected the risk of injury. For impacts to the front of the head, the 10ft-long Dastaar turban style reduced damage force by 23 per cent compared to the worst-performing turban style.

For impacts to the side of the head, the 32ft Dumalla turban style performed the best, with a 59 per cent reduction in the force.

The researchers intend to use their findings to develop a force-absorbing turban material to offer Sikhs who wear turbans better head protection.

Dr Gurpreet Singh, from the Sikh Scientists Network and Imperial’s Department of Materials, said: “Our findings show that simple Sikh turbans have the potential to mitigate head impacts.

“This provides important evidence that we hope will point the wider scientific community to invest in the best headgear fabrics to absorb shock, which indeed will open commercial markets to people from all walks of life that deal with concussions and head impacts.”

32ft The length of fabric from which some turbans are folded, forming a substantial barrier against knocks to the head