Erik mentioned a while back during one the podcast about helmet vs no helmet with water impact on the concussion potential.
A quick Google search frequently quote the Virginal Tech independent study. However on closer look at the methodology, they only test a soft hammer impact (ie hitting your board for example), it does not measure deceleration as the head penetrate the water surface.
In this test, they measure this, and basically shows no helmet is better than any helmets at various angles.
Note they still recommend a helmet.
Note water entry is at 8.8m/a (17 knots) resulting in about 5-7G deceleration
Winging, even last weekend whiplashing on a failed high speed jibe winging onto a wave face, I was entering at around 20 knots, the Garmin watch register 40 knots. No helmet (just wetsuit hoodie) and instant headache.
Great find. In the last few months, Iāve realized my post crash headache issues weāre mostly do to a neck muscle imbalance due to a lifetime of surfing and paddling in the prone position. Eric Goodman, from Foundation Training, helped me figure it out and put together a workout regime that Iām doing a couple times a day. Itās on both our IG pages if youāre interested. The difference is massive. My neck actually looks different. I used to have to crack my neck in the morning to get it to feel right, thatās down 80-90%. And I can take much harder wipeouts without effect.
I did have a fall yesterday on a super intense runner, solid 7ft at 7secs, big offshore swell and super fast, where I hit chop going super fast, wearing a hat. On entry I tucked my head and could feel the bill of the hat crank on my neck. 6 months ago Iād be in a bad spot today. After the fall I actually wondered how Iād feel in the morning. Feel great.
I have an Iron Neck that Iām going to start training with soon for added resistance, but Eric said I should wait a few months before stepping it up. I actually tried a couple months ago and set me back a bit.
As for the helmet debate I think it depends on where you are in the learning curve and what youāre doing. If I were doing any flips or big airs Iād wear one. Iāve been riding that Midlength and hit it on my shin a few weeks ago and it was crazy how much more force it carries that my 4.5 pound prone boards. Massive egg and edema. I was thinking during the winter I might rock a helmet winging and downwind even just for the cold factor.
Looking to see what other folks think on this thread.
Super interesting. I have been considering a helmet lately after taking a super hard fall last week that had me seeing stars after impacting the water with my headā¦ Anyone notice less force on their head in a head first water impact with a helmet? Also, as erik said with bigger boards there seems to be a lot more risk in coming in contact with them. Went a long time without injury on my prone board, then I got a big DW board and broke my ribs on it the next day. Lucky it wasnt my head that hit it!
yes good helmets can save your brain cells and protect from injury (as long as it provides good padding around the back of the head as well). water holds tension obviously and if you happen to hit it just right, that can result in many stars, just not the good kind
I know its just anecdote, but Iām finding the Gath Neo does not affect my neck in any negative way in a crash and I believe it offers at least a modest benefit in headache after hard water crashes while kite foiling. Its the right compromise for me, even if there is only a minimal padding.
This assesses contact with the water but doesnāt take into account contact with hard objects such as the board or foil etc, in which a helmet significantly reduces injury
Whiplash and concussion can be reduced by neck exercise however
Super happy with the Gamebreaker Pro. Had plenty of crashes while kiting with it and never felt any of the ābucket effectā that I see in these threads.
I definitely think about this. Concussions more than neck injury. Sled-head and related CTE concussions I think are a real problem and the height, speed and dynamic nature of foiling falls make me wonder how this might be an issue
Get an iron neck, itās great for healing a lifetime of surfing issues. Also a soft helmet like dmc is basically like no helmet when it comes to downwides
I am helmet-positiveā¦every bit of protection from this body-destroyer is good. But also believer that the bucket effect leads to whiplash and concussionā¦high speed impacts from the kite-foil and sup-foil days (as I find it easier to chase bigger waves sup than surf). Right now I am using a soft helmet, rugby style, which will help reduce impact of a board or foil smack. Or alternatively a bump-cap liner inside wetsuit hood or in a floppy bucket cap ā at least slightly better than nothing.
And PSA, diving head first into shallow water, helmet wonāt help you (which I recently did, so lucky not to break my neck, and just shocked at my stupidity). My neck is still sore, and that Iron Neck looks to be a good one ā¦ but right now looks like it would be painful!
Does look like itās from the Greek wars , howās the padding? Is it hard like Gath (I prefer the idea of a softer padding to absorb some of the deceleration).
Hereās some easy exercises people can start with for neck strengthening, these would be enough for most people initially, adding weight to these movements and eventually progressing to something like the iron neck can help significantly in reducing whiplash and concussion
I stopped at 4min horizontal head position , could go a bit longer.
Jujitsu was great for neck work out, repeatedly thrown on the ground.
Winging also surprisingly I think from holding the arms overhead for hours at a time.
Iām going to try to consciously tightening up my diaphragm and neck/shoulder when falling see what happens.
4 minutes is pretty good
Keep in mind 40s is the minimum for average people who probably arenāt exposed to high velocity head movements frequently
You can still benefit from higher intensity neck training with weights or other resistance
Hi Erik, loved to read your post on the whiplash and how you got your neck back solid againgā¦
Really curious to read how you solved that problem, any way you could share this with me please ? At this point, I goit my neck whipped for the 2nd time, canāt look up to the sky anymore without pain so guess I need some treatment before it gets chronic
Thanks man !!!
the Simba helmet is great in most respects. Provides a decent amount of protection to the face, duck dives well in surf, is a pretty good fit with the inserts if needed.
Only downside is that the inner lining chafes quite badly. The tips of my ears (and those of a handful of others who own one) get rubbed raw after a day on the ski or in the water. My ears are not particularly large and are fairly āstreamlinedā. I believe are working on a new version to include better ear fit. The back of my neck has also suffered chafing from the seam where the lining meets the shell.
Itās definetly the best helmet Iāve tried for penetrating the water in big surf duckdives (have otherwise worn Gath, and for lighter conditions the vebodi).
