Evaluating Airbag Safety Vests for Equestrian Sports

Thoracic injuries are common in equestrian sports. Advanced safety equipment, including airbag vests, have been introduced to the market to protect this body region. Standard EN13158 [“Protective Clothing—Protective Jackets, Body and Shoulder Protectors for Equestrian Use: For Horse Riders and Those Working with Horses, and for Horse Drivers—Requirements and Test Methods,” European Committee for Standardization, Brussels, 2009 (in German)] defines the minimum requirements for conventional safety vests; however, there is currently no standard related to airbag vests for equestrian sports. The aim of this study is to investigate the applicability of a draft motorcycling standard [prEN1621-4, “Motorcyclists' Protective Clothing Against Mechanical Impact. Part 4: Motorcyclists' Inflatable Protectors—Requirements and Test Methods,” Deutsches Institut fur Normung e.V., Berlin, 2010 (in German)] for equestrian airbag vests. Based on EN13158 and prEN1621-4, airbag vests for equestrian sports were tested. In addition to the tests outlined in the above standards, the pressure induced by the inflating airbag on the thorax was measured and the sound level of the deploying airbag was recorded. The use of airbag vests in conjunction with conventional vests was also investigated. Testing airbag vests in accordance with the existing standards was possible without practical issues. The impact tests indicated that airbag vests were able to absorb higher forces compared to conventional vests. The airbag inflation times were recorded to be between 186 and 260 ms. Trigger forces were measured to be between 150 and 593 N. The maximum pressure on the upper body resulted in 20 to 84 kPa. The bang associated with airbag deployment generated a sound level of 87.3 to 98.4 dB(A). The degree of protection offered by airbag vests was demonstrated by applying the procedures prescribed in existing standards. The draft standard for motorcycling proved to be applicable to equestrian sports. However, regarding the interpretation of the test results, it seems necessary to adapt several threshold values of this standard to account for equestrian-specific parameters.

[1]  S. Bidal,et al.  Evaluation of a new security system to reduce thoracic injuries in case of motorcycle accidents , 2010 .

[2]  Paul Swatek,et al.  Analysis of horse-related injuries in children , 2008, Pediatric Surgery International.

[3]  Wei-Jing Lee,et al.  The efficacy of four-slice helical CT in evaluating pancreatic trauma: a single institution experience , 2011, Journal of trauma management & outcomes.

[4]  C F Finch,et al.  Preventing Equestrian Injuries , 1996, Sports medicine.

[5]  M. Liedtke.  Akute Gehörschäden durch extrem hohe Schalldruckpegel , 2009, HNO.

[6]  J Gilchrist,et al.  Non-fatal horse related injuries treated in emergency departments in the United States, 2001–2003 , 2006, British Journal of Sports Medicine.

[7]  G. Matthes,et al.  Ursachen, Verletzungen, Therapie und Präventionsmöglichkeiten von Unfällen im Reitsport , 2013, Der Unfallchirurg.

[8]  Doris Bixby-Hammett,et al.  Common Injuries in Horseback Riding , 1990, Sports medicine.

[9]  John A Craven,et al.  Paediatric and adolescent horse‐related injuries: Does the mechanism of injury justify a trauma response? , 2008, Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA.

[10]  B. Tsuei,et al.  Equine-related injury: a retrospective analysis of outcomes over a 10-year period. , 2008, American journal of surgery.

[11]  Wolfram Mittelmeier,et al.  Unfälle beim Pferdesport : Unfallhergang, Verletzungen und Prävention , 1994 .

[12]  Martin Liedtke.  Die Effektive Lärmdosis (ELD) — Grundlagen und Verwendung , 2013 .

[13]  Wolfram Mittelmeier,et al.  Unfälle beim Pferdesport , 1994 .

[14]  D. Chalmers,et al.  A new look at horse-related sport and recreational injury in New Zealand. , 2009, Journal of science and medicine in sport.

[15]  Harald Feldmann,et al.  Das Gutachten des Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Arztes , 2006 .

[16]  P S Moss,et al.  A changing pattern of injuries to horse riders , 2002, Emergency medicine journal : EMJ.

[17]  D H Leach,et al.  Guidelines for the future of equine locomotion research. , 1983, Equine veterinary journal.

[18]  Peter Patka,et al.  Spine fractures caused by horse riding , 2006, European Spine Journal.

[19]  Aristomenis K Exadaktylos,et al.  Protective and risk factors in amateur equestrians and description of injury patterns: A retrospective data analysis and a case - control survey , 2011, Journal of trauma management & outcomes.