BACKGROUND
Helmet use is now viewed as an essential safety measure in almost all sports involving a high risk of impact and head trauma, from horseback riding to mountain biking, rock climbing and winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding. For young skiers and snowboarders under the age of 14, the use of certified helmets is compulsory in Italian law, although no defined regulations exist for recreational sledding
OBJECTIVE
To review past and current regulations covering winter sports, to explore potential legal discrepancies in appraising factors related to helmet use in recreational activities by children under the age of 14, and to identify hazards connected with various types of sledding accidents
METHODS
Descriptive data of the cases of 16-year-old or younger adolescents injured while sledding without helmets were gathered from injury reports collected by ski patrols, pre-hospital emergency services and emergency departments, and compared with 53 cases of adolescents and children who went skiing and snowboarding wearing certified helmets, over two winter seasons (December to April, 2011-12 and 2012-13). Sledges were grouped into three categories:1) traditional wooden toboggans (hereafter called ‘traditional sleds’); 2) plastic sleds; 3) newly designed sleds (with inner tubes, plastic and hard foam sleds, snowskates, boardslides, runslides, snowblades, foam slides, etc.)
RESULTS
Descriptive data of the cases of 16-year-old or younger adolescents injured while sledding without helmets were gathered from injury reports collected by ski patrols, pre-hospital emergency services and emergency departments, and compared with 53 cases of adolescents and children who went skiing and snowboarding wearing certified helmets, over two winter seasons (December to April, 2011-12 and 2012-13). Sledges were grouped into three categories:1) traditional wooden toboggans (hereafter called ‘traditional sleds’); 2) plastic sleds; 3) newly designed sleds (with inner tubes, plastic and hard foam sleds, snowskates, boardslides, runslides, snowblades, foam slides, etc.)
CONCLUSIONS
Additional investigation of the actual dynamics of the accident, together with information on the sitting position and sled speed are required. Regulations should compel ski slope operators to improve the current level of control on sledding slopes.
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