Pearland, TX motorcycle riders: helmets proven to prevent spine injury

If you ride motorcycles in Pearland or a nearby Texas city, you may have heard that wearing a helmet could hurt your neck if you are involved in a crash.  As experienced Houston personal injury attorneys, we hear these arguments all the time as well.  Researchers, however, are eager to debunk this myth in light of recent findings.

 

New research from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland shows that there is no doubt that motorcycle helmets dramatically reduce the chance of brain injury and cervical spine injury.  Cervical spine injury can lead to paralysis, a serious condition that no motorcycle rider wants to experience.

 

In results published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, motorcycle riders wearing a helmet were 22 percent less likely to suffer a cervical spine injury than riders not wearing a helmet.  This is a significant protection, and was discovered after researchers reviewed data on over 40,000 motorcycle wreck cases over a four year period.

 

A 25-year old study is often cited by anti-helmet lobbyists seeking to avoid mandatory helmet laws.  In this older study, researchers claimed that helmets could increase torque on a rider’s neck, worsening their injuries.  However, this study has been widely criticized and the results never duplicated.  Even the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has taken issue with the methods used in this very small study.

 

Modern helmets also offer significant advantages over the helmets available over two decades ago.  Technology and safety improvements have made helmet use even more important than ever before.  This new study on cervical spine injuries is so compelling, that safety advocates and researchers hope that it turns the tide of anti-helmet sentiments among motorcycle riders.