ThermaHelm helmets up for discussion

You may have seen ThermaHelm on the BBC in recent weeks – a revolutionary new helmet design with an inbuilt cooling insulator that works on impact to prevent swelling.

• Save £££s on motorcycle helmets

According to research stated by ThermHelm, 80 per cent of all motorcycle fatalities are a result of head injuries. And the majority of the injuries are caused by the brain swelling inside the helmet and the response time to address the issue.

To combat this, the ThermaHelm helmet has a cooling shell around the outside of the polystyrene foam.

When there’s an impact on the head an endothermic chemical reaction takes places, ultimately unleashing an instant wall of cooling like an ice pack around the head.

This stops the swelling and also means your head is held at a constant temperature with the helmet on until the emergency services arrive.  

Julian Powers, the man behind this technology said: “Helmet technology generally hasn’t changed in about fifty years – there hasn’t been a significant event of step change that’s happened in the patent world.

“They’ve had the same white polystyrene and hard outer shell and helmet manufactures have made improvements in venting and so forth.

“But there are none that are significant to the safety of the helmet.

“If an average of 20 per cent of people who receive an injury that is classified as traumatic brain injury is diagnosed as needing brain cooling which is routine now, that’s one in five people.

“So would you not gamble with a twenty per cent benefit on your life as you’re scooting along the countryside and someone pulls out in front of you in a tractor or something like this? I would gamble that you would.”

MCN has been consulting motorcycle helmet manufactures and experts in brain injuries concerning the technology.

Keep an eye out in MCN for expert opinion on ThermaHelm, but for now we want to know what you think.