The Influence of Protective Headgear on the Visual Field of Recreational-Level Skiers

Mateja Očić (), Ivan Bon, Lana Ružić, Vjekoslav Cigrovski and Tomislav Rupčić
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Mateja Očić: Laboratory for Sports Games, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Ivan Bon: Laboratory for Sports Games, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Lana Ružić: Laboratory for Sports Games, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Vjekoslav Cigrovski: Laboratory for Sports Games, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Tomislav Rupčić: Laboratory for Sports Games, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-10

Abstract: The benefit of protective headgear for recreational skiers is an ongoing debate in the snow sports industry, and there are a lot of opposing opinions. Due to the dynamic conditions in which winter sports are performed, athletes demand rapid and constant processing of visual information. A sufficient level of anticipation helps athletes to properly position themselves to reduce the forces transferred to the head or even move to avoid a collision. To objectively identify the impact of protective headgear on the visual field when skiing, it is necessary to conduct suitable measurements. The sample consisted of 43 recreational-level skiers (27 M, 16 F; age 31.6 ± 8.23 years). A predefined testing protocol on an ortoreter was used to assess the visual field for three conditions of wearing protective headgear. Differences in perceived visual stimuli between the three conditions were evaluated by repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Based on the observed results, it can be concluded that the combination of wearing a ski helmet and ski goggles significantly negatively influences visual performance in a way that the visual field is narrowed, for both helmet users and non-users, only when comparing the tested conditions. When comparing helmet users and non-users, there are no differences in the amount of visual impairment; therefore, the habit of wearing a helmet does not influence the ability of perceiving visual stimuli.

Keywords: ski helmet; ski goggles; peripheral vision; vision screening; head injuries; preventive measures; risk factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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