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After several early snowstorms, it's shaping up to be a good winter for skiers and snowboarders, and researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine say there's no reason not to wear a helmet while engaging in those popular sports. Reporting in this month's Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, researchers at the school's Center for Surgery Trials and Outcomes Research said a review of published studies of the use of safety helmets by recreational skiers and snowboarders shows that the helmets clearly decrease risk and severity of head injuries and do not increase the risk of neck injury, cervical spine injury, or risk-compensation behaviors. The authors' recommendation, which is backed by the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma's Injury Control and Violence Prevention Committee, is that all skiers and snowboarders should wear a safety helmet to reduce the incidence and severity of head injury. "Policies and interventions to increase helmet use should be promoted to reduce mortality and head injury among skiers and snowboarders," they said. Advances in the treatment of brain injuries incurred by U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan will eventually benefit civilians who suffer traumatic head trauma. Read more about it in Psychiatric News here.
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