Preventing injuries from extreme sports
Extreme sports like skateboarding and BMX are popular in Eastern Idaho. These sports can be highly dangerous especially if the right precautions aren’t taken.
The local skate park does not require helmets or padding, but officials from the parks and recreation department in Idaho Falls highly encourage park goers to wear safety gear.
Extreme sport enthusiasts said they’ve seen instances where padding or helmets could have made a huge difference.
“A young kid that was long boarding and he didn’t have a helmet on and he went down and I believe he was in a coma for a few days he did have a full recovery, but it did take him a while,” said Chris Michael the owner of The Nayborhood a local skate shop.
BMX Biker Dominic Kirkham remembers a time where he would have gotten a concussion if wasn’t wearing a helmet.
“I was actually learning a new trick and I just shouldn’t have done it and shouldn’t have sent the other half of it and just tackled my bike and ended up hitting my head,” said Kirkham. “It’s a serious thing to wear a helmet, even if you feel like a goof wearing it, wear it anyways.”
There are signs at the local skate park encouraging the use of helmets. The Parks and Recreation Department said it does take other measures to keep park goers safe.
“Maintenance crews and parks crews come through on a regular basis to clean up any debris that’s on the skate park,” said P.J. Holm the recreation superintendent.
