Body Armor?

Ok, seems like there has been quite a bit of discussion about "Body Armor" lately. Meaning, knee braces, helmets. ect.... (I have no idea what "ect.." means, cup maybe?)
I grew up skating, riding bmx, and I never felt the need for the whole thing. Matter of fact, I think it's ridiculous how parents act like their kids cant ride their bike down the street without a helmet. Riding ramps and such, thats a different story. And even now, I snowboard and still dont really believe in helmets all that much. Although Im re-considering just for the riding the Park. Mountain biking, I always wear one because I ride a lot of single track and you get poked in the head constantly by branches and stuff.
Now that brings me to wakeboarding. I dont ride sliders, because I dont have access too, and Im to lazy to build one. So I thought I would never even think about wearing a helmet. But this past Sunday, I got my bell rung in a really really bad way. It's Tuesday, right? Im still not feeling normal yet! So, I have never ridden with one, and I need some opinions here. Now, I know the whole thing of "they suck because you will think your invincible" Well Im 30 now and I know Im not invincible. So Im asking anyone who has ever RIDDEN with one. I dont care about the 16 year olds opinion who thinks they are for dorks because they dont look cool. Once again, Im 30, I dont care about looking cool. I just dont want to pull a Kurt Warner here!
Anyway, my main question is, do they really help with water impact?
Ok, let the beatings begin!

Oh yeah, I guess this post will probably get me kicked out of DMC, wont it? LOL

i've never ridden with a helmet before wakeboarding. DMC doesn't approve of Helmets unless you are riding on the sliders. (Just kidding.) I wear one in the park when im snowboarding because it helps my confidence a lot and they look a lot cooler than ever before plus i keep my goggles on them. Here's what I think...If you feel better off wearing a helmet wakeboarding and you can pull some sick tricks nobody is going to care whats on top of your head. If you land on your head a lot I would probably get one.

My name is Shanda...I'm 26 and I wear a helmet.

Ryan: I thought I'd never wear one..then I caught my back edge so hard that I got a minor concussion. Needless to say I bought a helmet and I still hit hard but the helmet really does help. I don't go harder because I wear a helmet, I'm just better protected now that I wear one. The fact is that if you want to improve, you're gonna land hard once in a while and the helmet helps.

I was knocked out once and now ride with a helmet. I'm not sure how much it helps. I can still get my bell rung from a hard fall and I do notice more of a pulling on the neck on certain falls.

Ryan from one DMC to another...lol. I don't wear one unless I'm hitting sliders, but there have been plenty of times I wish I had been wearing a helmet.

My uncle & I have a girl that rides with us regularly, and about a year ago she took a header trying a toe side W2W. She got back in the boat, and everything was cool, or so we thought. We did the normal thing asked her if she was ok, she said yes and continued to get in the boat and get comfortable. I took my ride, my Uncle took his. We head up river to drop her off with her parents. A few hours go by, as we are cleaning up the boat, getting ready to go home. Her parents pull up and ask us what happened to their daughter? We told them she took a pretty hard fall but she seemed ok. They then told us when we dropped her off that she couldn't remember anything, not even riding that day let alone taking a nasty face plant. She had such a major concussion that she couldn't remember her classes at school, her teachers, or if she was watching a movie she couldn't tell you what had happened 20 minutes ago. It was pretty bad, and she was like that for about a week. Now of course she always wears a helmet.

Now I can't say that a helmet well stop you from getting a concussion or from getting hurt. If you do wear one at least you have that extra layer of plastic and foam to absorb some of the shock. And we all know how much force and shock is involved in some of our crashes, like when you catch a heel side edge and you get one of those head snappers. Ouch!!

As seen in my profile pic I wear a helmet. But you have to wear one on the cable if you hit sliders. Not a bad idea though. My helmet has yet to do anything for me on the sliders. But armor for the family jewels in the form of wetsuit shorts or even a couple pairs of speedos/underwear beneath the boardshorts has come in handy in the past.

Didn't wear one until I got a pretty good concusion. Heal side jump another boat heading the opposite direction wakesurfing throwing a huge wake. Figured I would get one quick jump in and landed right into the trough of their wake. Major head slap!!

Got into boat, kept repeating stuff. Couldn't rememeber what day it was "Monday", where I had been all weekend "New Orleans", and last my friend told me his fiance' was having a girl. Our major conversation for the last few months was that she was pregnant. I looked at him and said "Bridgets pregnant?!" at that point by the look on his face, I knew it was something I should know. I got a little freaked!

So now I wear a helmet. Oh since I got a concusion can I join the DMC Club!?!?!? Please!!! LOL

Concussions are one thing, I mean you get a splitting headache and in a day or two their gone. Nasty, but you're season isn't over. I've had plenty of them. Now a blown eardrum on the other hand is a different story. Last year, I didn't wear a helmet until I caught an edge and blew out my left eardrum. Talk about pain?!?! I've had broken bones, collapsed lung/chest tube, bruised heart (all from a motorcycle accidnet) and I've even smashed off a finger (snowmobile incident) and nothing hurt quite as much as blowing out an eardrum...okay the finger thing hurt pretty bad but you get my point. And the really sucky part is, your season is over. It takes about 2-3 months for it to completely heal and during that time you can't go in the water. I religiously wear a Pro Tec helmet now with ear flaps so it doesn't happen again. Yeah, I've still rung my bell with it but I guarantee it would have been much worse without it. Oh and btw, I'm 34.

You snowboard and don't "believe in helmets all that much." If your not going to wear one on the snow, don't bother wearing one in the water. I guarantee your chances of ringing you bell on the snow (ice, trees, other people ...) are much greater than in the water. There has only been one time I have gotten a concusion on the water (without a helmet), but there would have been several on the snow without one.

here's what I think about this whole helmet thing... I personally wear one when hitting obstacles but not on the water riding the wake... fact is that concussions are not caused by head impact on hard surfaces, skull fractures and scalp wounds are... concussions are caused by the jaw slaping against the upper teeth on impacts... reason why football and hockey players use mouthpiece to prevent this... I wouldn't recommand wearing one on the water cuz you may swallow it... I personally prefer suffering from concussion than choking after swallowing a mouthpiece... another reason I don't wear one riding the wake is that I fear that the strap might strangle me on a hard fall...
I heard some stories about people blowing out eardrums and it is starting to scare me a little... I own a protec helmet with ear flaps but not using those right now... I might reconsider that pretty soon...

Well thanks for the feedback. I thought for sure this thread would have brought on more negativity then it did.
Cheese, I actually did have a mild concussion. I was pretty spaced out the rest of the day. I dont think the people in the boat really knew what was going on though. When I went up to my truck to bring the trailer down, I put the key's in the ignition, let my dog in, put the windows down. Then grabbed a towel to dry my shorts off before getting in. Then I was like, where are my keys? I thought I dropped them. I looked around for like 10 minutes before I realized they were in the ignition. And duh, they would have to have been for me to put the windows down. Then I got in and put my car in gear before starting it up. I was like, oh S***, Im not right!. I was so nervous loading the boat, like I was going to forget something, lol. And I was with a bunch of non-boaters.
Joe C, to answer your question, I guess Im a WAY better snowboarder then wakeboarder. So Im just more confident snowboarding without a helmet. I probably wouldnt ride with one while free riding, but I do want to get one for the park. Anyway, I think my conclusion is I'll probably get one and only end up wearing it when trying new tricks or when Im really trying to push it.

Good point Jonathan, but concussions are not only caused by the jaw slapping on the upper teeth, but the are caused by any type of blow to the head. Even banging your hand on your forehead can be considered a concussion. The force of the blow actually causes the brain to shake/move and smack up against the inside of the skull and in severe cases, bruising or bleeding may occur, which is why we get headaches or experience memory loss/dizziness after a bad fall. A mouthpiece will help protect the jaw and teeth and perhaps absorb some of the shock from impact, but not totally prevent a concussion. (I wouldn't recommend a mouthpiece while riding either.) Anyway, you only have one brain and you gotta use it the rest of your life, maybe another 60 yrs...and your wakeboarding career will last another 10 years, maybe? I plan on protecting what I need later in life because I don't want to be drooling in a cup while stocking shelves at the local Safeway. (Kurt Warner reference)

Ok, next question. Anyone know where I could get a good deal on one? Ive been pricing the Pro-tec's with the ear flap's and they are all $60.

Actully I just found last years Ace Wake for $45 at buywake. Probably not going to get it cheaper then that.

I've got a question about busting out an ear drum. Would foam earplugs help out? I would think that they would stop the force of water from entering your ear canal.

Of course the major problem with this would be that I couldn't hear the tower speakers that I spent $2000 on.

Yeah rschrock, foam earplugs will work if they stay in. Anything that prevents a rush of water from going down your ear canal at mach 3 will work however, if you cram the plugs in too far, that rush of water might force them in further which could damage the eardrum more so than the water would have in the first place. I considered getting custom plugs made but then I couldn't hear the music either! The helmet w/ear flaps works well and I can still hear ok. Nice rig btw.

I have busted both eardrums wakeboarding...it really sucks because when they heal, there is scar tissue and you lose a small percentage of hearing permanently.

Randy- You can try earplugs but usually they either don't stay in place or they don't keep water out. Either way, you are screwed. The harsh reality is that your season is done with for a while.

What I have learned from busting eardrums is this:

Take the digger face first, it may sting, but the stinging is temporary.

I bought a predator helmet a few months ago after my 2nd concussion. It doesnt hurt on back slaps or faceplants (which im really good at). I got mine for $25 on ebay.

this predator helmet?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=790&item=383052936 2&rd=1

wow, how do you see out of it?

I am in the same boat as splatz. I had tubes as a kid and the holes keep rupturing. I found Doc's Pro Plugs and have not had a problem since. I bought some custom made plugs that cost me $100 and lost them the second time out. Pro Plug are 10-20 bucks. I found them at a local dive shop.

toolfan-yep, thats the one-its got one way viewing shield-that way no water in ur eyes or ears!!!!awsum helmut........LOL big time

hey Ryan... i am 16 but i wear a helmet... i got knocked out a couple times and have worn one ever since the second time... it does sometimes hurt when your head hits the water... but i could care less what anybody thinks when i wear one because i would much rather be safe than sorry!
~Courtz