Originally Posted by
surgeonstone
General Surgeon.
And yes-loads of trauma experience.
And no I do not wear a helmet, there simply is no data that is of ANY value in regards to bicycling.
And yes, I also am a motorcyclist and would never think about going any distance on a motorcycle without a full face helmet.
And yes, there is absolutely no data that does not show a marked reduction in head injury rates and deaths with motorcycle helmet use.
And yes, this absolutely is not true in bicycle helmet use.
Virtually any study supporting bicycle helmet use in reducing head injuries refer to the study by Thompson et. al. published 1989 in NEJM. The study is a terribly flawed one and yet remains the cornerstone of helmet safety.
When looking at whole population studies, bicycle helmet use not only fails to show ANY reduction in fatalities or deaths, some actually show an increase in death and injury rates.
This is in complete opposition to motorcycle helmet use where virtually every whole population study of helmet use shows marked reductions in death and head injury rates.
In bicycling, anecdote rules and in medicine, especially as applied to bicycle helmet use, anecdotes are of little value.
Originally Posted by
surgeonstone
But it is , for all the reasons stated above. If it is so obvious than why are the whole population studies so radically different for bicycle and motorcycle helmets. Why is the data so solid for motorcycle helmets and so lacking in bicycle helmets. Perhaps what is "so obvious" is not in fact , obvious at all. I wear a motorcycle helmet....always. I wear a seat belt always. The bicycle helmet is an accessory foisted upon us by fears not grounded in reality or fact .
First, a few points:
1. As a general surgeon, you do not deal nor are qualified to deal with head trauma. Neurosurgeons and neurologists are for this purpose.
2. As a doctor, it is unlikely that you do any bench research and hence you have no personal expertise in head injuries. If you are doing research, you can correct me.
Nevertheless, as someone educated in the sciences, I expect that when you claim helmets 1.don't work and 2.cause injury that you have read sufficient data that has formed your well-informed position. As such, the only thing that matters here is research. I would like to ask you if you could kindly share all the papers written on the topic that support your two claims. I am very open-minded and would love to see any data that suggests helmets do not work, no matter what the application is.
I would also like to take the liberty and address a few point you made. When you are reading a study that says helmet legislation increased the number of fatalities, you must tread very carefully to interpret that data. I did see a few articles like that as well. However, there is a big difference between a helmet
causing those increased fatalities and the number of people who wear helmets and think they are invincible, therefore start riding more aggressively. The latter has been shown to happen. That is more of a psychological effect than anything related to helmets. Furthermore, when you read that this or that legislation did not decrease helmet fatalities, you must also try to see whether the study actually looked into the rate of helmet use. Legislation means nothing if people are going to ignore the law and not wear helmets or if they are going to wear helmets and assume they can do all types of dangerous maneuvers.
Here are a few, quick citations for you:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18646128
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8571008