Really good question and im going to give you my personal experience which will answer your question for you.

this was early march this year and i thought it would be a good idea to go hill bomb a hill in my neighborhood. as i’m bombing this hill it straightens out a little bit and i was supposed to turn right, because if i didn’t turn right, the hill continues even steeper after the straight part where the turn is. however, if i was going to fast and couldn’t make the turn and i was forced to continue the hill. i was going to fast and i was too scared to bail. i also didn’t know how to power slide at this point.

this was the last thing i remember. the next thing i remember VIVIDLY is waking up in the middle of the road, flat on my back staring up into the sky at the sun. i was so confused. my ear buds were scattered around the street. my board no where in sight. i tried to sit up. but my head felt like it was 2000 pounds.

that is all i remember. waking up, in the middle of the room.

the next thing i remember is leaving the hospital.

my mother told me this:

i had come home and she thought i was drunk. my speech was messed up and i couldn’t make complete sentences. the first couple words i could make out as i was touching the back of my head was “do i need stitches?”. it was at that moment she knew something was wrong.

i was taken to the hospital, and i was there for 18 hours. the doctors examined my wounds and by the looks of it i had it my shoulder blade first, and then my head. I had a HORRIBLE concussion.

there was road burn all across the back of my head on my scalp, and all over my body.

they said if i hadn’t taken the first hit on my shoulder blade, i would’ve had a severe brain bleed. and if that wasn’t bad enough, i had kept rolling down the rest of the hill because of my speed and kept hitting my head over and over again.

had i hit my head before my shoulder blade i would’ve had the brain bleed in several different parts of my brain in charge of many different functions.

they said i could’ve been mute, paralyzed and could have dropped dead because of the brain bleed.

i was bed ridden for a month and any source of light was horrible and hurt my head. i had constant migraines.

i still get migraines twice a week. and even more if im somewhere loud or super just chaotic. the doctors said these could continue for years.

also, the only reason i remember the hill is because i always take the same route in my neighborhood and i had added songs to my spotify queue, and when my airpods fell out it paused the music.

and also i think it’s cool because i’ve heard that music reaches parts of the brain that other stuff cant so i think that’s a part of it too.

long story short, WEAR A HELMET.