Posted on 06/27/2002 5:54:27 AM PDT by 2Trievers
A medical expert says anoraks are a possible health hazard.
A study carried out at Birmingham City Hospital found the hooded coats reduce the field of vision by up to half.
The professor behind the research says this can be potentially dangerous when crossing a road.
Philip Murray, an opthalmologist, has published his research in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
He said: "Our researchers measured the binocular visual field of volunteers wearing four different styles of anorak.
"Most wearers pull the hood over their heads and we found that with the hood up the field of vision is more than halved."
The Daily Mirror quotes him as saying: "People need to be far more careful in their choice of head gear. And apart from that they look ridiculous."
Proof of what children always knew: anoraks are hazardous to your health
By Sarah-Kate Templeton Health Editor
As the favoured outer garment of trainspotters and computer geeks it was always going to be a laughing stock. But the allegations against the much maligned anorak have become more serious. Doctors have discovered what children have long known -- anoraks are bad for your health. Experts at the Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre at Birmingham City Hospital, who have carried out what is thought to be one of the first in-depth pieces of research on the health risks of anorak wearing, have discovered that wearing the hood up can be hazardous.
The main danger comes when the anorak wearer tries to cross the road and turns his or her head to see nothing but a wall of fur.
According to the results of tests carried out by ophthalmologists, vision range with the hood up is more than halved. This, they conclude, is a danger to the anorak wearer and other members of the public.
'Campaigns to reduce road traffic accidents have paid little attention to the way headgear could interfere with vision,' says a report of the research in the Journal Of The Royal Society Of Medicine. The researchers measured the binocular visual field of healthy volunteers while they were wearing four different styles of anorak.
'All four anoraks greatly reduced the horizontal and superior field of vision. The anorak producing the worst reduction resulted in a width of vision of 99¡ and only 15¡ of vision above eye level, versus 167¡ and 52¡ respectively without an anorak.'
And the report advised: 'Anorak wearers should turn their heads to look sideways before crossing the road.'
Professor Philip Murray, one of the researchers, added: 'When the volunteers had the hoods up, their vision was severely reduced. People do need to be more careful.'
Another danger of anorak wearing, not identified in the study but all too familiar to children, is the sport of targeting snowballs so that they hit the small area of face left exposed after the hood is zipped up.
Perhaps this is something the doctors could investigate in further research.
Doncha love them lumping these two demographics together.
Thanks fd ... outlawing snowballs in the UK is next on the agenda! Who killed Kenny? LOL &;-)
Nah, a five day "cooling off" period will do.
I guess the Brits don't use their neck muscles much...
The &.nbsp (w/out the period) works like t h i s
T G I F , e h ?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.