How Should I Protect My Child From a Head Injury?
Head injuries in children happen for a variety of reasons. A few tips to avoid injuries:
- Child should always be buckled while riding in a car; either in a car seat or seat belt depending on age.
- Children should always wear a helmet when riding a bike.
- Please gates on the top and bottom of stairways to prevent falls going up or down.
According to a new study, if your child has been in an accident or taken a fall, they may face a lifetime of problems ranging from communication deficits to trouble with daily self-care.
Children with traumatic brain injury were found to lead to “substantial long-term reduction” in quality of life, according to the study.
The study, published in the November issue of Pediatrics, looked at 729 children under 18 years old treated for brain injuries at emergency rooms in Seattle and Philadelphia between 2007 and 2008.
The children’s functions were determined before the injury, and then they were tested three months, one year and two years after the injury. The children were assessed to see if they could have a conversation, and do things such as use the toilet, brush their teeth, and feed and dress themselves.
85% of the children suffered mild head injuries, and some of them had deficits at three months, but few suffered lasting loss of social and daily life activities. The children that suffered a moderate or severe brain injury seemed to face obstacles in day-to-day life, sports and school activities at the end of the two year research study. Researchers said that the more seriously injured children had a lower quality of life than children undergoing active treatment for cancer.
The study also included a control group of 197 children who had visited the same emergency rooms in the same time frame with only arm injuries. According to the findings, the children in the control group had no significant shortfalls after the two year study was complete.
For parents of children in Kansas City, check out, “Tips for Kansas City Parents: Diagnosing Early Warning Signs of Concussion in Your Child“. Be sure to look for signs such as dizziness, sensitivity to light and irritability.
If you or someone you love has suffered a serious brain injury in an accident in Kansas or Missouri, you may be entitled to compensation for your losses. Call experienced Kansas City Personal Injury Attorneys. With over 15 years of experience in Brain and Spinal Injuries, we may be able to help you through this often difficult and stressful time.
New Helmets After a Woodpecker Study? It’s Possible.
Have you ever been woken up in the wee hours of the morning to that constant peck, peck, peck? That would be woodpeckers at their finest!
Do you ever wonder how they never hurts their head, or brain, after pecking at trees or houses?
They move their heads to peck around 20 times each second, slightly angling their heads in the process; each single stab from their beak causes a decrease in speed that is over a thousand times the force of gravity.
There are three reasons why woodpeckers peck:
- They are trying to establish territories and attract mates.
- They are looking for food.
- They are excavating a nest cavity.
A new study is helping scientists to figure out how woodpeckers maintain their forceful pecking with harming their brains.
The scientists determined there are three factors which work in combination to protect the woodpeckers’ skulls – the hyoid bone acts as a ‘safety belt’; the unevenness of upper and lower beak length reduces the amount of impact reaching the brain; and their skull’s spongy, plate-like bone structure disperses the impact force. And because they have minimal space within their skull, this also limits and restricts brain movement.
Amazingly, this study’s findings could be the key to developing better head protection (helmets) for humans.
However, scientists feel they still have more quantitative work to do before they assist in future production of helmets for humans.
Wouldn’t it be cool to wear a helmet to protect your brain because of those amazing birds? You probably wouldn’t be so annoyed with them next time they wake you up.
As experienced Kansas City Brain Injury Attorneys, we know it’s important to protect your brain and wear a helmet while riding a bike or motorcycle and during contact sports.
If you or someone you love has suffered a traumatic brain injury as the result of an accident in Kansas or Missouri, you may be entitled to compensation for your losses. Call our experienced Kansas and Missouri Personal Injury Lawyers. With over 15 years of experience in Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Accidents, including Traumatic Brain Injuries, we may be able to assist you and your family through this difficult time.
NASCAR Driver Wants to See NFL and NHL Use Gear to Protect Players from Head Injuries
NASCAR fans in Kansas City may know driver Jimmy Johnson as the reigning Cup champion, but Johnson is also a vocal advocate for protecting drivers– as well as other professional and non-professional athletes from serious injury. Head injuries are one of the biggest looming threats for most football players, especially contact sports like hockey and football.
As spectators we love both sports because they are aggressive and often violent sports. It’s the same reason the Romans watched the Gladiators. You love seeing a QB get his bell rung or a wing take a cross-check against the glass. Unfortunately, the reality is that these hits that bring fans to their feet are often resulting in long term and sometimes terminal illnesses for players who suffer from concussions and traumatic brain injury.
Johnson believes the NHL and NFL could use some of the same technology spearheading that drove NASCAR after the death of legendary race car driver Dale Earnhardt ten years ago. The pro racing league worked to design walls that lessen impact on vehicles as well as car safety and helmet techniques to prevent serious injury when an accident cannot be avoided.
Contact Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys to set up a free consultation if you or a loved one has suffered a serious head injury in an accident that happened in Kansas or Missouri. Our team of Personal Injury and Brain Injury Lawyers have over 15 years of experience dealing with head injury cases. We want you to know your rights.
New Treatment for Kansas City Residents Suffering from TBI
The Institute of Medicine has released a new report about progress that has been made in treating Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) using Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy (CRT). Committee Chair Ira Shoulson (professor of neurology, pharmacology, and human science, and director of the program from regulatory science and medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.) said, “This report lays out a research agenda to surmount the short comings and challenges that have thus far limited our understanding of the full effectiveness of various forms of cognitive rehabilitation therapy in helping patients with different severity and stages of TBI.”
About 10 million people suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) worldwide. From 2000 to 2010, the number of US military personnel suffering from TBI has almost tripled from 11,000 to 30,000. The wars in Iraqand Afghanistanhave been adding to the number of TBIs through roadside bombings and insurgent attacks.
Most TBIs are minor, however, whether minor or severe, recovery can take months or even years. Even then, complete recovery is not likely, especially in severe cases. The U.S. Department of Defense sponsored the CRT study to find out how effective Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy (CRT) in the treatment of TBI is, so that they can properly decide how available the treatments should be and how to implement them in the military health care system.
People living with TBIs have a long road ahead of them because rehabilitation and reintegration into everyday life is a long-term challenge. TBI patients need effective health care infrastructure, evidence-based treatment and rehabilitation policies to cope with and care for their impairments.
There are different forms of CRT that vary according to the issues the patient is suffering from and the techniques used to treat those issues. Because of this there is a problem with assessing the effectiveness of the treatments. Even though it is clear that CRT is successful, Researchers cannot empirically classify the results. Their goals are to improve the way the data is collected and standardize a set of terms that practitioners treating TBI patience to use to describe the therapy used and the outcome.
Symptoms you should watch for if you think that you or a loved one might be suffering from a TBI are; headache, nausea, vomiting, loss of consciousness (even for very short periods of time), sensitivity to light and/or noise, balancing problems or dizziness, double or blurred vision, confusion, inattentiveness, memory issues, and pressure in the head.
If you or a loved one is suffering from any of these symptoms, you should immediately seek professional medical attention. If you do so, are suffering from a TBI and you need a trusted legal adviser, Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys may be able to help. Call 816-471-5111 for no cost or obligation to you or “Just Ask“.
Can Your Kansas City Child Recover from a Hypoxic Brain Injury through Hippotherapy?
The fact that brain injuries are serious business isn’t exactly breaking news. But did you know that sooner you get treatment for your brain injury the more likely you are to possibly stop any long term and permanent damage to your brain. Some children are getting a bit of a different type of treatment just by simply riding a horse. Crazy huh? but in some cases– it’s working.
It’s a new therapy called “hippotherapy”, however, is helping dramatically increase the chances for a child born with a severe hypoxic brain injury to recover motor functions and allow them to begin to lead the life of a normal child. Hypoxia is often the result of delayed treatment for babies when complications are misdiagnosed or missed altogether during the birthing process.
Hippotherapy puts the child on a horse and helps improve improve muscle tone, balance, coordination. Even if a child is having problems with muscle or speech development, simply riding a horse is proving to help rewire the brain in some cases.
As experienced Kansas City Brain Injury Accident Attorneys, we know that time is of the essence when it comes to head injuries, no matter how minor they seem, especially for children. Even the slightest bump to your head can cause your brain to shift abnormally and lead to long term brain damage and even possibly brain illnesses like Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS).
Any head injury checked out by a doctor immediately following because if you have sustained a traumatic brain injury it is important that it be treated right away. Sometimes, the results of a head injury won’t show up for several months and in some cases, years down the road– and as we’ve learned from this research, the sooner treatment begins the better chance you have at avoiding any long term and irreversible damage to your brain.
If you or someone you love has suffered a serious injury or a traumatic brain injury as the result of an accident in Kansas or Missouri, you may be entitled to compensation for your losses. Contact experienced Kansas City Personal Injury Lawyers James Roswold and Heather Lottman. With over 15 years of experience in Brain and Spinal Injuries including cases of TBI, we may be able to assist you and your family through this difficult time.
Contact Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys to set up a free consultation to discuss your personal injury claim. You can get started today by downloading our free book, “10 Essential Steps to Protecting Your Injury Claim“. We want you to know your rights.
Join the National Brain Injury Awareness Twitter-Thon May 9-13
As Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys we are hoping to spread good news this week, which is National Brain Injury Awareness Week. The purpose of the seek is to increase public awareness into the amazing advancements that are taking place in the field of neuroscience. While the problem of detecting the severity of a head injury has been difficult, the field of neuroscience in regard to detection and treatment of serious brain trauma is changing rapidly.
National Brain Injury Awareness week runs from May 9th through May 13. This year, for the first time ever, the Children’s Trust is offering a special informational service to all who follow them through their informative social networking service. The trust will be following posting live tweet updates from doctors, nurses, teacher and therapists as they interact with patients of serious brain injuries. It will also follow patients and families as they go through a day in the life of a severe brain injury victim. The Twitter-Thon should give you a rare insight into the lives of those who suffer from these injuries and the people who work hard to help them recover.
To join in the Twitter-Thon, simply follow the Children’s Trust on Twitter @childrens_trust and be sure to LIKE the Children’s Trust Facebook profile to receive further updates on this important week of Brain Injury Awareness. You will be able to Tweet your comments, questions and reactions by using the hashtag #braininjuryweek.
As experienced Kansas City Brain Injury Attorneys, we feel it is important to be able to follow the leading medical professionals as they deal with individual cases. This is a brilliant way to connect with these men and women and to share in their triumphs and challenges in helping victims to over come their situations. Remember that no head injury should ever be taken lightly. We encourage you to seek treatment for all head injuries, no matter how minor they appear. Even the slightest head bump can lead to long term brain damage that can weaken the brain and make it vulnerable to serious brain illness and disease.
If you or someone you love has suffered a traumatic brain injury as the result of an accident in Kansas or Missouri, you may be entitled to compensation for your losses. Don’t delay, call experienced Kansas and Missouri Personal Injury Lawyers James Roswold and Heather Lottman. With over 15 years of experience in Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Accidents, including Traumatic Brain Injuries, we may be able to assist you and your family through this difficult time.
Contact Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys to set up your free consultation. You can get started today by downloading our free book, “10 Essential Steps to Protecting Your Injury Claim“. We want you to know your rights.
Kansas City Accident Victim- What are the Symptoms of a Serious Neck Injury?
A neck injury can be just that– a real pain in the neck. You get the idea. If you’ve ever been in a car crash, you know that even the slightest injuries can stay with you long after the accident. One of the most common neck injuries you can receive in a car accident is whiplash. This is typically caused in a rear-end collision and causes the neck to jolt back and forth against the motion force of your body. Whiplash usually causes sometimes long term damage to the tissue in your neck.
Whiplash is the most common neck injury a motorist or passenger can receive in a Kansas City car accident.
Check out these Symptoms of a Neck Injury:
- Pain in the back of the neck
- Stiffness and decreased range of neck motion
- Headache in the back of the head
- Numbness in shoulders, arms or hands
- Muscle spasms or pain the shoulders
- Weakness or tingling in the arms
If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, contact your doctor immediately. It may be more than just neck pain.
Our experienced Kansas City Neck Injury Lawyers know that accidents can’t always be avoided. In the past we have offered plenty of useful information in our extensive library as well as our informative blogs on how to avoid serious injuries in a car accident. As always, we want you to be safe in all of your travels this season. Remember, the best way to avoid accidents is to pay attention while you’re driving and be watchful of other drivers on the road. The more attentive you are, the better chance you’ll have in avoiding a serious injury in a car accident.
If you or someone you love has suffered a serious neck or spinal injury in a car accident in Kansas or Missouri, you may be entitled to compensation for you losses. Call our experienced Kansas City Personal Injury Attorneys. With over 15 years of experience in Brain, Spinal and Neck Injuries, we may be able to help you and your family get through this difficult and stressful time.
Contact Kansas City Accident Injury Attorneys to set up a free consultation to discuss your personal injury claim. You can get started today by downloading our free book, “10 Essential Steps to Protecting Your Injury Claim“. We want you to know your rights.