AMN
Wearing a helmet may significantly reduce the risk of cervical spine injury during motorcycle crashes. Despite claims that helmets do not protect the cervical spine during a motorcycle crash and may even increase the risk of injury, researchers found that helmet use lowers the likelihood of cervical spine injury, particularly fractures of the cervical vertebrae.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics in the US reviewed the charts of 1,061 patients who had been injured in motorcycle crashes and treated at a trauma centre in Wisconsin between January 1, 2010, and January 1, 2015.
Of those patients, 323 were wearing helmets at the time of the crash and 738 were not. Wisconsin law does not require all riders to wear a helmet.