Research Brief : Understanding Cause of Spinal Cord Injury and Traumatic Brain Injury

Spinal cord injuries in young children are most often caused by automobile accidents or child abuse. Automobile accidents, falls, gunshot wounds, and diving accidents cause most spinal cord injuries in adults and older children. Diseases and inffections such as measles, polio, meningitis, and HIV can cause permanent damage to the central nervous system, therefore causing physical disabilities and health impairments. A lack of prenatal care and a mother’s alcohol and subtance abuse during pregnancy can also lead to physical disabilities and health impairments in children.

Over 50 percents of traumaic brain injuries in children and adolescents are caused by motor vehicle accidents, with falls causing another 21 percents. Sport and recreation injuries are next majoring cause, followed by violence (Russo, 1991). Child abuse accounts for the majority of infant head injries and morethan 75 percents of children under the age of three who are physically abused have a traumatic brain injury (Savage, 1993). Infants can also receive traumatic brain injury from being shaken (reffered to as shaken-impact syndrome). In 10 to 25 percent of the cases,, the child dies (Schroeder, 1993).

The following are typical behaviors associated with traumatic brain injuries :

• ·         Lowered social inhibition and judgement; lowered impulse control
• ·         Faulty reasoning
• ·         Numerous cognitive processing
• ·         Lowered initiative and motivation
• ·         Overestimation of abilities
• ·         Depression
• ·         Flat affect with sudden outbursts
• ·         Agitation and irritability
• ·         Fatigue (Forness & Kavale, 1993; Tucker & Colson 1992; Tyler & Myles,1990; Witte, 1998)

Physical disabilities and health impairment caused by traumatic brain injury  and spinal cord injury are preventable. The case for preventation of traumatic head injuries is clear:

• ·         63 percents of all children involved in motor vehicle accidents were not wearing restraints.
• ·         99 percents of those injured in bicycle accidents were not wearing helmets.
• ·         70 percents of those injured in motorcycle accidents were not hearing helmets.
• ·         54 percents of those injured while riding on allterrain and recreational vehicles did not use restraints (Medical Research and Training Center in Rehabilitation and Chilhood Trauma,1993).