Mountain Biking Tied to Serious Spinal Injuries: Evolution at Work!

"One patient left the hospital against medical advice." That says it
all!

Mike


Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:17:29 -0800
From: Normonster
Subject: Mtn Biking & spinal injuries

Mountain Biking
Tied to Serious
Spinal Injuries
HA L I FAX, N. S. * Mountain biking
is a growing cause of serious spinal injuries,
often resulting in permanent disability,
Dr. Neilson McLean reported in
a poster at the 11th International Conference
on Emergency Medicine.
Dr. McLean, an emergency medicine
resident at the University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, retrospectively examined
the trauma and spine registries
of three Vancouver-area trauma centers
in 1994-2004. During that time, 399
patients were treated for injuries. Of
those, 52 sustained spinal injuries.
Most of the patients were male
(92%), and they had an average age of
33 years. Most (36) had been wearing a
helmet at the time of the accident.
The most common mechanism of injury
was a fall over the handlebars (29).
Their average injury severity score was
17. A total of 54% required surgery.
Most of the patients (71%) sustained
a severe spinal injury; 33% had a root
injury, 11% a central cord injury, 22%
an incomplete spinal cord injury, and
34% a complete spinal cord injury.
Upon discharge, 54% had a neurologic
deficit. A total of 32 patients were
discharged to home. However, 15 went
to a rehabilitation facility and 4 to an
acute care facility. One patient left the
hospital against medical advice.
*Michele G. Sullivan


** I had trouble sending the original in pdf format. If interested, I
can send this out from a different account. -Norm
===
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of!

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande