<p>Hopefully this idea will not be occurring at the high school level much longer. Many states have passed laws prohibiting it. It will be interesting to see how much that law really affects anything, but lawmakers are trying I guess.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is one of the biggest problems with concussions. They normally look fine, claim to feel fine, everyone wants to know why they can’t return. With an ankle sprain, there is swelling, discoloration, and pain with weight. Those are sometimes easy to see why they can’t return. A head injury shows no signs a lot of times.</p>
<p>Teriwitt- thanks for asking about my D’s friend. We went last week to the hospital where she was intitally life flighted, to visit the chaplain, and see some of the nurses who cared for her in the ICU. The nurses were amazed to see her walking and talking. And the chaplain told us for the first time that two of her three doctor’s had told him that she would never emerge from her coma, and that if she woke up it would only be to a vegetative state. It’s hard to believe it is just over a year since the accident.
So yes, she has made a miraculous recovery. She is able to walk and talk, and do many of the things she did before her accident. Her short term memory is improving, to the point that she can recall a few things she does each day. She is adept at using things like computers and cell phones. Despite that, she still suffers from cognitive difficulties, trouble getting started with things, and balance problems. She tires easily and loses her patience more easily than pre-accident. She is, however a very positive person, and she works hard and looks forward to the future. She is very fortunate that her boyfriend has stuck with her, as well as a strong group of friends.
Every day I see her, I am so glad to have the time with her. So many people with her type of injuries never get to do anything like she does again.
Reading about Ms. Richardson’s accident hit very close to home.</p>
<p>anothermom - thanks for the update. I know it has been a difficult journey for her and all those who have had to watch her struggle. She can be an inspiration to others, hopefully.</p>
<p>Regarding skiiing on the beginner’s hill, I heard a comment today on our local radio that made absolute sense. The beginner’s hill can be more dangerous for certain injuries than the black diamond runs… why? Because the bunny runs are often so flat, that when you fall, the force of the impact is much stronger… you don’t tumble and roll and absorb the impact over a few seconds like you do on more of a regular run. It’s like skiiing into something stationary, as opposed to falling on a run, and tumbling through the snow, having it slowing your momentum until you stop. Makes sense to me.</p>
<p>While it’s been almost five years since I’ve been skiing (and have only done so a few times in my life), I don’t think I ever remember seeing people wear helmets. Is this something new?</p>
<p>Why all this speculation from the news outlets? What a horrible thing for the press and media to do. And what really is the point of describing the clothes that mother Vanessa Redgrave wore to the hospital?</p>
<p>I agree LakeWashington…this morning my sister emailed me because GMA was pretty much putting the nails in her coffin. I heard about this accident last night, also Today Show did a spot on it with Nancy Snyderman. They didn’t get into any great details, and certainly didn’t speculate on her current status.</p>
<p>At my son’s school, the art room is dedicated to a student who died in an accident. Like Natasha Richardson, he had a head injury that appeared to be minor. He went right on a head with his day. A little later, he felt nauseous, tired and dizzy. He died before getting to a hospital. I think it was on vacation but beach type. THis “walk and die” is very scary. My kids have had a number of head injuries, and appeared fine. I wonder if it can be seen before the deadly affects, that this trauma exists.</p>
<p>teri, ski helmets are not that new. My kids have been skiing since they could walk and have always worn helmets. </p>
<p>Besides that, they ar required for ski racing as well, which they both did from a very young age.</p>
<p>My twenty year old had a fall doing a figure skating jump (my girls took lessons for years) at our local rink (around age 10 or so?) and hit her head and was momentarily/briefly unconscious and they called an ambulance to take her to the hospital but it was just a concussion. But after that, in order to skate the rest of the season, she had to wear her ski helmet (she was also a ski racer at the time).</p>
<p>My son once fell off a swing at age 4 and sustained a closed head injury. When the ambulance came, they requested and received a police escort that closed the streets between my home and the hospital. He had to wear a helmet everywhere for about two months and to receive CT Scans on a monthly basis for six months. It’s important to be informed about closed head injuries because the fact that they don’t “look” bad dangerously deceptive.</p>
<p>Regarding bicycle helmets: my daughter was hit by a car while bicycling last June. Her helmet broke the car’s windshield and in the process was broken itself. My daughter had no brain injury at all–although her collar bone was broken into four pieces. </p>
<p>However, there is a lot of evidence that wearing a bicycle helmet can actually be dangerous, weirdly enough: cars pass bicyclists wearing helmets more closely. </p>
<p>“Note: the full study was published in Accident Analysis and Prevention 39 (2007) 417–425. The BBC reported on September 11, 2006, that a study conducted in Salisbury and Bristol, UK showed with very precise measurements of 2,500 passing cars that the test cyclists were given 8.5cm (3.3 inches) more clearance by cars if they were not wearing helmets.” from this website: [British</a> Study on Passing Clearance and Helmets](<a href=“http://www.helmets.org/walkerstudy.htm]British”>British Study on Passing Clearance and Helmets)</p>
<p>Personally, I wear the helmet. My husband and I own a bicycle store, and I tried on every helmet we sell. Strangely, one felt very comfortable right out of the box… and sixteen others were annoying in one way or another. A seventeenth, designed for experienced bike racers and horrendously expensive, was also comfortable. If you don’t like a helmet, keep trying. There are subtle differences.</p>
<p>dmd77, I’m so glad that your daughter was okay. </p>
<p>We have friends whose daughter was walking and hit by a drunk driver. The picture in the paper showed the windshield with a head shaped indent. We just could not believe that it was her beautiful head that had made that shape. </p>
<p>This young woman has been through hell. She’s had to give up the sports she loved and must work 10xs harder than her peers just not fall too far behind. I know it’s not realistic that she would have been wearing a helmet walking but I think of her life now and your daughters. I know about the danger of passing cars and such but, like you, we choose the helmet, for ourselves and for our child.</p>
<p>I know one of the reasons this story has been weighing so heavily on me is that she is my age. Doing a fun activity with her children and then this. I spend so much time worrying about my kid, do I take good enough care of myself? Before I read this story, I might have walked it off simply out of not wanting to ruin a good day or embarrassment. No more. </p>
<p>And my heart is broken for her children; old enough to seem somewhat independent but we all know how truly reliant they still are on their mom. I am just so thankful that their Dad is healthy and capable.</p>
<p>I would say to get a definitive answer when dealing with the brain that Yes a CT scan is needed. And it might not even give definitive answers all the time either. </p>
<p>Sometimes you just have to be ultra-conservative when it comes to a potential head injury…</p>
<p>Just called a friend. Got news her son at HolyCross was in a car accident, and he has a concussion. No memory of anything that happened. They’re in the city now getting a MRI for the young man.</p>
<p>It’s not surprising that she might have sustained a freak injury (which apparently is more common than we think since it has a name). We’ve all heard of people who fall in their home and die. It’s all in how you fall and what/where you hit. H tells the story of the first (and only) time he ever went skiing (long before I met him). He fell backwards and hit the back of his head. It hurt and he was told to watch out for a few days, but the next day he woke up and had two black eyes. It freaked him out so bad, he never went near a slope again.</p>
<p>My son started snowboarding just a few years ago and never wore a helmet. I kept seeing more kids wearing them and it bothered me so much (mother’s intuition) that I told him “no helmet, no snowboarding”. We went to the local ski shop and had him pick out one that was comfortable for him.
This past Christmas he thanked me for making him wear a helmet and now he feels “naked” without it. I feel a little better when he is going down those black diamond trails.</p>
<p>p.s. 2 winters ago I went with him and took a beginners class on the bunny trail. It was my first time in over 25 years so hence the beginners class. It got boring on that little trail so I upgraded the lift ticket and went off to the easy trails. On my way down I fell and whacked the back of my head…wow…that hurt!! I haven’t gone back since. I think I will leave the slopes to my kids.</p>
<p>PugMad Kate–
(I have poodles.)
Thank you for your wishes for my daughter. She has made a nearly complete recovery. Her knee (which she fell on when she slid off the hood of the truck) is still achy when it rains or if she “dances for more than two hours.”</p>