In latest research findings, a study from Imperial College in London revealed that wearing Sikh turbans greatly reduced the risk of skull fractures in areas covered with a thick layer of fabric, compared to bare heads. The new research was aimed at studying how turbans might mitigate impacts to the head during cycling. It came to the fore that the way of turban wrapping also greatly affects the risk of type of head injury. The dastaar style or the ‘Pagdi’ proved effective in preventing injury to front of head, while the 'Dumala' style cushioned shocks to the side of the head better.
Researchers from the Imperial college, London, and the Sikh Scientists network said that the findings allowed them to make evidence based recommendations so that Sikhs wearing turbans can benefit with the best head protection possible. It was also important as due to wearing a turban, Sikhs are also exempt from wearing protective head gear.
For the test, they compared the performance of various turban styles by performing crash tests on dummy heads. The team tested five different turbans, tied in two different styles and two different fabrics of different sizes. They then compared the findings to injury risk with conventional cycle helmets and with bare heads. They found that with respect to shocks to the front of the head, the Dastaar style with 3-metre-long and 2 metre wide Rubia voile fabric performed the best by reducing the impact of the shock by 23%, as compared to the turban that performed the worst.
The researchers also recommended covering a larger area of the head with a thick layer of fabric, along with placing energy absorbing materials between the fabric layers, to cushion external shocks and reduce the risk of sudden impacts, which can cause skull fractures and traumatic brain injuries. However, they found that the risk of head injuries was higher for all turbans than conventional bicycle helmets. The team plans on using these findings to develop a force-absorbing turban material to offer Sikhs a better head protection.