Roanoke Personal Injury Lawyer - Spinal Cord Injuries

Heavy Backpacks Causing Back and Spinal Injuries in Children

Shannon Weidemann — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:24:54 GMT

The American Physical Therapy Association has released a study showing that heavy backpacks worn by school children can cause back and spinal injuries. The study was conducted by Mary Ann Wilmarth of Northwestern University.

According to Wilmarth, injury can occur when a child, in trying to adapt to a heavy load, uses faulty postures such as arching the back, bending forward, twisting, or leaning to one side. These postural adaptations can cause improper spinal alignment, which hampers functioning of the disks that provide shock absorption. A backpack load that is too heavy also causes muscles and soft tissues to work harder, leading to strain and fatigue. This leaves the neck, shoulders, and back more vulnerable to injury.

Wilmarth recommends that backpacks should weigh no more that 10 to 15 percent of a child's body weight and that both straps should be worn to distribute the weight evenly. Used correctly a wheeled backpack can also be used to avoid a back injury.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Car Accidents Number One Cause of Spinal Injuries in Children

Shannon Weidemann — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:13:26 GMT

A new study by researchers at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital has shown that the number one cause of spinal cord injuries in children is from car accidents. Most of the children were not wearing a seatbelt at the time.

"Motor vehicle accidents are by far the No. 1 cause of pediatric spinal cord injury within the U.S., accounting for more than 55% of cases," write the researchers.
They add that nearly 70% of the children and teens who suffered spinal cord injury in auto accidents weren't wearing seatbelts when the accident happened.

Boys have a higher tendancy to suffer a spinal cord injury by two to one. Researchers believe it may be that boys are involved in more contact sports. Seatbelt use by more children would probably reduce the number of injuries.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury Still Evolving

Staff Writer — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 11:13:06 GMT

Wise Young, Chrisoper Reeve's doctor, spoke recently at a rehab institute in Connecticut. His speech focused on the advancement in reasearch and treatment of spinal cord injuries since Reeve's horse-riding accident in 1995.

Most of his talk, titled "Stem Cells and Spinal Injury Repair," centered on advancements in spinal cord injury research since 1995. Much research focuses on getting axons, the parts of nerve cells through which impulses travel from the cell body, to re-establish communication through areas disrupted by injury. Young went into great detail in describing research and advances in the areas of surgery, rehabilitation and drug and regenerative therapies that have taken place across the world.

Young noted a lack of funding (from the Federal Government) for stem-cell research as a reason research and treatments have not advanced more quickly. He is working togeter with a network of states who have started funding on their own in the face of a lack of federal funds. Record-Journal.com provides more details: Spinal Cord Injuries.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer