Following a new report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), claiming that more than 5,600 Canadians seriously injure themselves every year taking part in winter sports, pediatricians and the media have been making a fuss and urging people to wear helmets and be safer. But when you look at the numbers a bit closer and remember that it's winter sports they're talking about (so obviously high risk activities) the report isn't as bad as it first seems.

An average of 18,975,000 people, over five years, skied in Canada each year, according to a report in 2009 by the Canadian Ski Council. So, that scary number of injured Canadians only amounts in reality to 3%. Nothing out of the ordinary there then. Also, that 5,600 figure doesn't even relate solely to the most popular activities of the winter sports spectrum, skiing and snowboarding, but to ALL winter sports. So the total percentage is even less for just skiers and boarders - it's more like 1.3%.

The report doesn't tell us much that we wouldn't have guessed ourselves. Take a look at some of the very unsurprising figures.

1. "Boys accounted for 81% of those hurt" - boys will be boys!
2. "Half of all hospitalizations during 2010–2011 for hockey injuries (542 out of 1,114) and close to one-third of all those for skiing and snowboarding (689 out of 2,329) were for people age 10 to 19." - so typical young, care free people then.
3. "Of the activities studied, snowmobiling was the only one not over-represented by younger Canadians in terms of hospitalizations: two-thirds (752 out of 1,126) of serious snowmobile injuries occurred in adults age 20 to 49." - errrrr because it's a motorised sport perhaps?
4. "Older Canadians most often hurt by falls on ice" - no shit
5. "For all winter-related causes of serious injuries (excluding motor vehicle collisions), falls on ice were by far the most common cause: they led to 7,138 hospital admissions in 2010–2011, more than for all winter sports and recreational activities combined." - again...no shit. Anyone who's been to a ski resort knows of the perpetual frequency of elderly, clumsy and down right drunk accidents on ice that are more prevalent than injuries on the slopes.

What is concerning about the report, is that it claims there has been very little change in these figures over the past five years and the suggestion is that it's down to lack of helmets being worn. What!? But there's more helmets and ski protection on the market today than ever before! We all remember the days when it was completely uncool to wear a helmet, but the tables turned - for the better, didn't they? Better for skiers and boarders as fragile humans, better for the major ski brands and their product development teams and profits, and better for the image of the ski industry as a whole. It suddenly became very uncool not to wear a ski helmet. Secretly deemed a novice idiot, laughed at by 'real' hardcore skiers and seasonaires, and looked down on for not caring for your own safety if you weren't wearing one. And with this overdue shift, the days of wearing ill-fitting, ugly shaped buckets over our heads also dissipated, as the major brands twigged they could sell more 'essential' gear to the masses and started actually designing cool lids. Thank god.

So it's weird that these figures show no change in five years.  The choice of helmets is now so extensive, catering for different ski styles, fashion tastes and ages, that we really have no excuse not to wear a helmet for winter sports. And as Dr. Natalie Yanchar, Associate Professor of Surgery and Emergency Medicine at Dalhousie University, and Medical Director at IWK Trauma Care in Halifax, puts it. “Wearing a helmet is important for all ages to prevent a fun day in the snow from ending in tragedy—without question, it reduces the risk of serious head injuries in case of a crash.”

So, what is preventing people from wearing a helmet? Maybe it's the financial pinch everyone's been feeling the last few years? Is the helmet in reality rather considered a 'non-essential' bit of ski kit that can be passed on to make trips more affordable? Or maybe it's just that helmets aren't worn around resort where the higher percentage of injuries occurs. Either way a plateau seems to have been reached - well in Canada for now at least.

So the question is, can we promote safety anymore? Are we even able to prevent boys from being boys and kids from lacking fear and being reckless. Would we even want to?

One thing that is troubling, is that the tables could be turning back again. Helmets (like so many other things that become widely adopted) could become uncool again. Whispers of this have already reached us via friends in Chamonix, where apparently, quote: 'the crazy bastards here just wear beanies not helmets'.  The same crazy bastards who are also considered hardcore riders, undoubtedly throwing their crazy asses down crazy lines and hauling their crazy un-helmeted asses off cliffs. In other words...the trend setters.

Maybe the resorts and authorities have caught on to this already? Last year, the Nova Scotia government introduced legislation making it mandatory to wear a ski helmet on ski slopes, making it the first legislation of its kind in the world when it comes into effect next November.

Be safe friends, try not to follow the cool kids wearing beanies and helmet up.

Ruth x

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