Future study should explore the relationship between the force of impact and the degree and nature of brain injuries, the researchers said. And because helmets used for skateboarding, in-line skating, baseball, and roller hockey are governed by different CPSC standards, the team said their future research will also focus on the relative benefits of these types of equipment.

The findings should give helmet-less bikers pause for thought, Sloffer said.

"To people who are against wearing helmets because of freedom issues or what have you, I can now say that, 'Yes, there is a benefit [to helmets], and I can prove it,' " he said.

Sloffer believes the findings can help improve helmet design, too.

"Helmet designers could always use our methods and take what we've learned, feeding that back into the helmet design stage to make a helmet that's even better and provides even greater protection," he said. "There's no reason why we couldn't design a helmet that is even better."

Dr. Dennis Durbin, a pediatric emergency physician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the National Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention with the American Academy of Pediatrics, expressed enthusiasm for the findings.

He said the current study backs up earlier lab work conducted in the mid-1990s. That research suggested that bicycle helmets reduced the risk of serious brain injury in an accident by up to 88 percent.

But Durbin cautioned that all the research in the world won't make a difference if riders aren't aware of how best to wear a helmet in the first place.

"They have to fit snugly to the head, low over a forehead," he advised. "A lot of people put it on and flip it back on their head, so if they were to look up, they would not see the brim of the bicycle helmet, and that is not good. People need to be made more aware that there's a proper way to wear a bicycle helmet, if you want to get the maximum benefit out of it," he said.

Source: http://health.msn.com/centers

####