Life After Traumatic Brain Injury | My true-life story …

Balance Bike Ridden by Child Wearing Helmet

Everyone, parent or not, knows that kids fall. My son ran headlong into doors, fell off tables, and even hit the floor when I fell down the stairs carrying him. (Thats a long storyIll try to get to it later) But did you know how many Brain Injuries (BIs) are caused by falls?

In the Nov. 13 New England Journal of Medicine, the results of a study of more than 43,000 children led by Dr. Nathan Kuppermann, a professor in the departments of emergency medicine and pediatrics at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine were published. The leading cause of BIs for children, individuals under the age of 18, was falls.

Dr. Nathan Kuppermann

For parents, the numbers can be frightening: under 2 years of age, 77% of BI are the result of falls. Seventy-seven! I dont know if thats a reassuring factMaybe there arent that many BIs in infants and newborns. For children between 2 and 12, the number is cut by half, and is only 38 percent.

For children between age 13-17, the leading causes of BI were assaults, sports, and car crashes. Over recent years, we have seen an increase in the use of bike helmets and even helmets when skiing. Thats reassuring. I began wearing a bike helmetnot by choice, mind youafter a bicycle accident I had when I lost my left front tooth.

I was trying to slalom between acorns on the street and lost control of my bike throwing me, teeth first, into the pavement. I dont remember much after that for several hours just that I thought my parents wouldnt notice the gap in my smile with my left front tooth was missing. (Duh!) So after that, I was forced to wear a helmet whenever I got on a bike or a skateboard.

Fewer than half the kids who were injured in car wrecks were wearing seatbelts. The kids injured in bike accidents were wearing helmets less than 20% of the time, he said. While a seatbelt or helmet wont guarantee you wont get a BI, it certainly cuts the chances. When I had my car crash, I was wearing my seatbelt. If I werent, Id be dead. The police report said I was unrestrained, but my mother told me I had terrible bruises and abrasions where the seatbelt had been. I figure the police just reported what they saw: I wasnt wearing a seatbelt at the time they arrived to the scene.

Because of the prevalence of seatbelts over recent years, the deaths from car crashes has dropped dramatically.

Dr. John Kuluz, director of traumatic brain injury and neurorehabilitation at Miami Childrens Hospital, said, According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths among children from car accidents has dropped 40 percent. (Taken from HealthDay News)

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Life After Traumatic Brain Injury | My true-life story ...