"Tubers" enjoying a tow behind a boat or personal watercraft this summer should be wearing a helmet, says a Calgary doctor.

Helmets would make tubing safer, said Dr. David Zygun, who treats people with critical brain injuries.

"We've got to make them socially acceptable, and in fact desirable, to wear because you don't want me to be your doctor."

Zygun, who works at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary, said injuries are caused partly by the jarring motion of bobbing over the waves.

"With any sudden deceleration, the brain can move inside the skull and cause injury," he said.

"When you take somebody around a corner, the tube is on a pendulum so the actual speed of the tuber can be very high … When people fall off and hit the water, it is not a cushion. It's a very hard impact and can be viewed as somebody hitting a wall."

Brad Storey is a Calgary resident who suffered a serious accident while tubing.

"The game with tubing, especially with adolescents and adults, is to see how long you can stay on before you fall off," he said. "I had a serious fall and I was basically passed out for 15 seconds."

Storey said he a terrible headache for about a day, but it went away. Three weeks later, a more persistent headache returned and a CT scan found he had a brain injury that required immediate surgery.

The accident was serious enough to keep him away from the sport, he said.