Motorcycle helmets help prevent lower spinal injuries

me and usually considered less than cool, motorcycle helmets save lives. It’s a fact. Not only do they decrease the rates of death from motorcycle accidents by 65 percent, but they also are known to decrease the prevalence and severity of head and brain injuries.

But a new study has shown that helmets also provide an additional advantage: they decrease the risk of cervical spinal cord injury during a crash.

These findings, published by Hopkins Medicine’s D. Adil Haider and colleagues, directly contradict and debunk the long upheld myth that wearing a motorcycle helmet can actually increase the risk of spinal cord injury (due to the extra weight of the helmet adding force to any movement of the neck in a collision).

This dangerous myth, long upheld by anti-helmet riders and lobbyists no longer holds true. Unfortunately, those who oppose helmet laws have cited the original study which gave birth to the myth, despite the study’s inherent statistical flaws and the fact that the findings are more than two decades out of date; hopefully, Haider’s findings will underscore the need for motorcyclists to use helmets consistently.

Haider and his colleagues dug through heaps of data in the National Trauma Databank, looking for recent trends in motorcycle accidents and injuries. And, boy, did they find them: from 2002 until 2006, more than 40,000 people were involved in motorcycle accidents throughout the U.S.

Of them, about 14 percent suffer traumatic brain injury, while another 5 percent suffer from spinal injury and another 5 percent die from their injuries. However, when analyzed according to those who wear helmets and those who don’t, a clear trend emerges: helmets save lives, protect brains and prevent damage to the cervical spinal cord.

The Haider study has found that helmets decrease motorcycle fatalities by 37 percent, traumatic brain injuries by 65 percent and cervical spinal cord injuries by 22 percent.

The data give credence to lobbyists’ calls for universal helmet laws in all 50 states. While such drastic measures have long been averted, some feel it is time to enact or re-enact laws requiring motorcycle helmets for anyone who rides a bike — no matter their age or whether they’re driving or not.

In terms of the debate, Haider’s team’s study may help swing legislation in favor of stricter helmet laws, which would be a big change in some places: only 22 states and two U.S. territories require all riders to wear helmets right now.

That might change, however, since the National Transportation Safety Board has put motorcycle helmet laws on the books — as one of its “Most Wanted” transportation safety improvements in 2010.