I have never understood why people go off piste. The risks can be enormous. As someone who has had a serious brain injury if he recovers he may not know the full extent for three years of any long term problems.

thats weird, that guy randomly popped up in my head today for no reason atall

Anyone on the slopes should wear a helmet. I got concussion on the slopes once even with a helmet.

He was wearing a helmet. The doctors have been saying that if he hadn't been wearing one he would never have survived long enough to get to the hospital.

I know he was (he'd be dead without it).
I was emphasising how vital they are.

He was wearing a helmet according to German news, which have been camping outside the hospital since he was delivered. National hero and all that.

Reports say that he hit a rock with his head and it was only the helmet that means he is in a coma and not dead,

here's a guy who drove at 300 MPH for a living and survives
then he bangs his head on a ski slope and is critical

i sometimes wonder about fate

may he make a full recovery and get well soon ...

The coma he is in is medically induced.

It is induced to reduce brain activity in an attempt to reduce swelling and blood flow to it. This should get it back to normal.

His coma isn't a result of the accident.

Even though nothing happened to me I'm glad I wore a helmet skiing the other week. There were people there with us who didn't want to wear them. I wonder what they would think now?

Blown a head gasket I reckon.

I'm glad he was wearing a helmet though, set's a good example. Now all we need is for the Queen to fall off a horse without a helmet.

Interesting that he wore a helmet, but BBC news used stock footage of him skiing in ferrari gear without a helmet on.

I suspect that they will be made mandatory which is not a bad thing. I hope he recovers as well.

When I was learning to snowboard I do remember losing my balance and falling flat backwards and giving the back of my head a fair whack on compacted snow. Made me see stars even though I was wearing a helmet at the time. No instructor would let you into a class without a helmet these days, it's simply not worth their risk. And you could enforce a rule that you won't sell ski passes to people who don't have helmets.

However he was apparently off-piste when the accident happened and it's hard to enforce regulations over every foot of an entire mountain range.I think it's much more likely that helmets will become a stipulation of medical insurance which would be enough for the average skier or boarder. Schumacher may be able to afford pretty much any medical bill - even one as titanic as the bill for this treatments going to be - but the vast majority of people on the slopes can't.

In my experience (although I haven't been for a good few years now) a lot of boarders and skiers do wear helmets anyway - there's no real stigma in doing so, you're not given any stick for it. Given there's no good reason not to and a lot of reason to, why wouldn't you? The only problem of any sort at all is after a day on the slopes your head gets a bit sweaty but what's that compared to brain damage?

Former F1 doctor says he knows of 'serious lapses of judgement' in Schumacher's care and he is now unlikely to ever recover

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -unlikely-