Doctors urge kids to wear helmets while sledding

SALT LAKE CITY — Kids don't often wear helmets when they sled, but emergency room doctors hope helmets will soon become the standard.

Helmets can prevent injuries if there was a crash — even death, in rare occasions.

A recent visit to some popular sledding hills indicated that wearing helmets while sledding hasn't caught on yet.

At Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake City, a group of mothers took their kids for a day of sledding. Though the kids did not wear helmets on this outing, they have them.

"If I let them go with teenage nieces and nephews, not myself supervising, then I would for sure send them with helmets," said mom Louise Hannig.

But doctors at Primary Children's Medical Center want to see kids wearing them all the time.

Kristin Schoolman, an ER physician at the hospital, said they have seen at least three serious accidents this year alone; two caused broken legs and the other a serious head injury.

The past 18 months, Primary has had 21 total sledding accident patients. Since December, the hospital has had at least 15 sledding, skiing and snowboarding patients.

"This year we've been lucky and not had a lot of serious head injuries on sledding accidents, but we see that it's common every year," Schoolman said. "(Helmets) could definitely prevent those injuries, or lessen the severity of them."

Schoolman hopes wearing helmets while sledding will become the new trend.

"In the olden days our grandparents or even our own aunts and uncles thought it was ridiculous to wear a seatbelt, and now we are all hopefully wearing our seatbelts," she said.

Schoolman offers more advice when sledding with your kids: "The most important thing is looking around where you child is sledding, making sure they have a clear field to sled down into."

One thing to note: Bicycle helmets aren't adequate protection for sledding because they aren't made for a hard enough impact. You'll need a skiing or snowboarding helmet to fully protect your child.

The National Safety Council has several tips for staying safe on sledding hills:

Make sure children and adults wear helmets and bundle up. The helmet helps prevent head injuries, and bundling up keeps you warm and provides padding and protection.

Go feet-first down the slope. This will greatly reduce the risk of head injuries.

Use a steerable runner sled because they're much easier to control.

And stress to youngsters that while sledding is fun, it can be extremely dangerous.

e-mail: abutterfield@desnews.com