Helmets should be a new fashion statement

TORONTO, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The world's elite athletes at the Olympic Winter Games compete with helmets, but too many forgo this safety equipment, a Toronto neurosurgeon says.

In a commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Michael Cusimano, a neurosurgeon at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, calls for skiers to shun the cultural stigma or fashion faux pas associated with wearing helmets to encourage helmet use as a routine part of the ski and snowboard culture.

Research shows that about 120,000 people in North America suffer head injuries while skiing or snowboarding each year, while recent studies have shown that helmets help reduce the risk of head injuries by up to 60 percent, Cusimano says.

"Despite compelling evidence that shows wearing a helmet significantly reduces the chance of head and brain injury, there are still those who argue that helmets are not fashionable or part of the ski culture," Cusimano says in a statement.

"We have established the safety benefits but now we must find ways to integrate helmets so it becomes another piece of standard equipment for people on the slopes. It is time for everyone who has a stake in skiing and snowboarding to do their part to make the slopes safer."