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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4690 ..

6.1.8 Do helmets reduce injury?

The evidence that helmets reduce soft tissue injuries is shown by studies examining the effectiveness of cycling helmets (Dorsh, Woodward & Sommer 1987; Thompson, R., Rivana & Thompson, D 1989; Weiss 1987; Wasserman 1990).

In American football, the National Head and Neck Injury Registry (Torg 1982) prospectively monitors catastrophic injury. When the data are compared both before and after the introduction of NOCSAE-certified helmets, there is a 54 per cent drop in head injury rates. However, this must be interpreted with caution since there were coexistent rule changes related to preventing head injury and it appeared that the incidence of head injury was dropping prior to helmet introduction anyway.

In Australian football and rugby codes, prospective injury surveys (Seward et al. 1993) have found too few players wearing helmets for adequate statistical interpretation.

Following a recent death in Rugby union (1994), media reports questioned the role of helmets in football. In this instance, the player's head impacted on hard ground after a legal tackle, causing an acute subdural haematoma. It would appear that `injuries in the 17-21 age group are more common than in younger age groups. Head protectors worn by players in the 17-21 age group, therefore, may help to reduce the number of injuries; however, this is scientifically unproved. In addition, there appears to be a general reluctance by players of this age group to wear protective equipment. Psychological acceptance of headgear, if head protectors are found to be appropriate after further studies, would be more easily obtained if it was introduced at an earlier age.

6.1.9 Potential risks of helmet use

Whilst helmets may possibly reduce the incidence of scalp lacerations and other soft tissue injury, there is the risk that helmets may actually increase both the cerebral and non-cerebral injury rates through a number of mechanisms.

(a) Sport-specific helmet design has not been established for Australian football or the rugby codes;

The need to use the correct helmet for a specific activity has been supported by research into helmet performance (Bishop 1984).

(b) The addition of a helmet to the head will increase both the size and mass of the head. This means that blows that would have been glancing become more solid and thus transmit increased rotational forces to the brain. The leverage factor means that any head protectors should be close-fitting;

(c) Because helmets distribute the force from focal impacts across a larger area, this may result in reduced fracture/ laceration injuries but may increase diffuse brain injury;

(d) Misplaced faith in an ineffective helmet may create a false sense of security and encourage players to place themselves in dangerous situations and ignore the usual precautionary tactics used in these situations, thereby increasing their injury risk;

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