Currently viewing the category: "injuries"

Child Dangers Around the X-mas Tree

By On · Add Comment · In accidents, Christmas tree, emergency room, holiday hazards, injuries, toddler

Parents beware: Your toddler is at risk around the Christmas tree this season. Although rare, holiday hazards can occur. In Boston alone, five children per year end up in emergency rooms due to injuries ranging from eating broken glass to swallowing batteries.

A study done at Children’s Hospital in Boston showed that between 1995-2008, 76 cases of injuries involving holiday decorations, such as ornaments and light bulbs occurred. Half of the injuries happened when a child ate fragments of the decorations–glass, metal or small light bulbs.

Dr. Lois Lee, director of the hospital’s Emergency Injury Prevention Program says, “If there are toddlers in the house, keep them away from the Christmas tree or at least keep the ornaments off the lower branches where the children can reach them.”

A few other things to think about:

  • Place tree away from fireplaces, radiators and other heat sources. Heated rooms dry trees out rapidly, creating fire hazards.
  • Artificial snow sprays can irritate lungs if inhaled. To avoid injury, read container labels; follow directions carefully.
  • Check each set of lights, new or old, for broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections. Discard damaged sets or repair them before using.
  • Use no more than three standard-size sets of lights per single extension cord.
  • Turn off all lights on trees and other decorations when you go to bed or leave the house. Lights could short and start a fire.*
  • Never use electric lights on a metallic tree. The tree can become charged with electricity from faulty lights, and any person touching a branch could be electrocuted! To avoid this danger, use colored spotlights above or beside a tree, never fastened onto it!
  • Keep “bubbling” lights away from children. These lights with their bright colors and bubbling movement can tempt curious children to break candle-shaped glass, which can cut, and attempt to drink liquid, which contains a hazardous chemical.

For more tips on preventing accidents this holiday, please visit The U.S. Consumer product Safety Commission’s website.

*Watch the video below to see how fast a Christmas tree can ignite and end the party.

Child Burn Prevention

By On · Add Comment · In accidental, burn, injuries, microwaves, scalds
The most common burn-related ER visits are due to scalds from hot tap water, with 4,000 children a year suffering accidental burns either from the faucet or bathtub. 75% of all childhood burn accidents are preventable. According to a recent report, a new danger parents need to consider and teach their children about are burns from microwave heated foods.

A review of records from the University of Chicago Burn Center shows that hot foods or liquids from microwave ovens were the fourth leading cause of scald injuries in children under 5 years old. Parents need to teach their children that the microwave is as dangerous as the stove when it comes to getting burned. The most common mechanism of injury in microwave burns is when children–the report has the youngest at 18 months old–open the microwave on their own and reach in for the substance inside. Most injuries occurred when one parent is home alone and trying to cook dinner; the children end up finding their way to hazardous areas.

The best thing parents can do is:

  • Teach children about the hazards of the hot stove and microwave.
  • Turn down home thermostats to under 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Don’t drink or handle hot liquids of any kind when small children are around
  • Keep pot handles turned inward on the stove.
  • Avoid using tablecloths and placemats that your child could use to pull hot foods and liquids down on him or herself.
  • Always test the water with your wrist or elbow before you place a child in the bathtub. You can also use a bath thermometer.

Remember 3 out of every 4 child burn injuries are preventable. The first step is just knowing the prevalence of these accidents. In this way, you’ll stay alert. When you are cooking, put infants in high chairs or create a “safe” play area somewhere away from the hazards of the kitchen. Then, always keep your eyes open. Better to burn dinner than your child.

LT–Find a Chiropractor!

By On · Add Comment · In chiropractic, chiropractor, Dallas Cowboys, Dancing with the Stars, Emmitt Smith, injuries, Ladanian Tomlinson, NFL, San Diego Chargers, sports, The Six Keys to Optimal Health

Just heard on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown, the analysis show preceding Monday Night Football: NFL analyst and Former Dallas Cowboy running back (and Dancing with the Stars champ) Emmitt Smith giving current San Diego Charger LaDainian Tomlinson advice on how to bounce back from injuries and prolong his career, the wise Mr. Smith suggests trying chiropractic.Yes! You heard right. From one future Hall of Famer to another, chiropractic is the way to go to stay healthy, strong, and preserve one’s skills in a highly demanding and physically grueling sport.

Woowee! What a plug for chiropractic! Why am I so ecstatic? Because what we’ve mostly heard in the past about chiropractic from major media outlets has been less than gracious. But now a major sports star with mass appeal says on national television to go see a chiropractor, and I say bravo.

If you don’t know who Emmitt Smith is, suffice it to say that he is the NFL’s all-time leading rusher and three time Super Bowl winner. He’s a league MVP and a Super Bowl MVP. It doesn’t get much better than that. And Mr. Smith danced his way into the general public’s consciousness when, in 2006, he won the third season of Dancing with the Stars.

If you’ve read my book, The Six Keys To Optimal Health, then you know what Emmitt Smith has said about chiropractic, “After that season (where he was hobbled by a hamstring injury), I decided to invest in me, to keep me going.” He went on to say, “You can have a Ferrari body, but your wheels need balancing. I felt if I took care of my body, I could still function when I got older.” So Emmitt Smith chose chiropractic, and he’s encouraging LaDainian Tomlinson to do the same.

And I’m encouraging all of you to do the same too. If you want to live pain free, with proper biomechanical functioning, and optimal overall health, choose chiropractic–it works!

Self Healing Body

By On · Add Comment · In brain, brain cells, central nervous system (CNS), healing, health, injuries, mind-body, nerve cells, nerve pathways, nerves, paralysis, repair, self-healing, self-regulating, spinal cord

Check this tripper: Scientist say that the central nervous system (CNS) can rewire itself to bypass damaged nerves that cause paralysis. Tiny nerves in the brain and spinal cord can actually crisscross creating new nerve pathways between brain cells and nerve cells that control movement. Injuries once thought to be irreversible now seem to show hope of recovery.

The study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles looked at mice whose long axon nerve fibers were blocked causing paralysis of their hind legs. However, researchers left the core of the mice’s spinal cords, which contained short nerve fibers, intact. Within eight weeks the mice regained movement in their hind legs, astonishing researchers. The scientists then blocked the short nerve fibers, once again, causing hind leg paralysis. This showed that the short nerve fibers, which had reconnected, were responsible for the regain in hind leg movement.

Wow! Imagine that. Nerve cells repairing themselves and creating new connections in a self-healing, self-regulating repair process. I find this new discovery absolutely fascinating, although I’m not exactly surprised by it. I would expect this type of self-repair to be inherent in living organisms, especially one as complex as Homo sapien. And I’m certain we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg. I still contend that the greatest gains in human health and healing will be realized in the realm of mind-body dynamics in the future–and perhaps not as far in the future as one might think.

The implications go way beyond reversing paralysis, in my mind. I think that all healing probably follows this type of mechanism in one way or another. There is so much about the human body and it’s physiology that we do not know, especially on the molecular (and smaller) level. I’m excited to see where science will lead us tomorrow. The human mind and body are truly magnificent, and we have yet to realize their full potential. Truth is, we probably haven’t even seen the half of it.

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Nick Campos - All Rights Reserved.