Long Island

Published on: December 15, 2011

Football player with spinal cord injuries returns to playing

by Stephen Bilkis

While spinal cord injuries can be devastating and often life-altering, some people have managed to come back from being injured to continue on with their lives. This particular football player did and isn’t shy about telling others about his experiences. He sustained a spinal bruise last year and swore that no matter what, he would get back on the field, said the observer. He lived up to that promise to himself and is now lifting weights and running.

At the age of 33 years, many classify that as too old to be playing the brutal game of football, but that did not stop this man. Others thought it was time he packed it in. He figured otherwise and proved everyone wrong. Spinal bruising or cervical injury are serious injuries and if a player continues to play, he runs the very real risk of sustaining an even worse injury, explained the doctor. Fortunately, this footballer’s spinal cord healed well, and surgery was not necessary.

Not everyone is that fortunate. Those who have suffered a severe spinal cord injury, as the result of an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, may be eligible to file a personal injury lawsuit seeking compensation, suggested the expert in the field.

Published on: November 30, 2011

The heavy equipment he had to carry while in Afghanistan only made his injuries worse.

by Stephen Bilkis

Spinal cord injury doctors know as well as anyone that foot soldiers often face injuries to their muscles and bones in the course of their regular duties. The great weight of their equipment only exacerbates the problems, making minor injuries worse and creating new injuries that will never completely heal.

Noncommissioned officers who have been through multiple tours in a combat zone are often the ones who suffer from these strains like herniated discs the most, according to doctors. These are also the ones who are most likely to feel loyalty to their units and they refuse to let younger and less experienced soldiers who have fewer injuries take their place.

“I had a choice. But I couldn’t leave my squad behind just before they were being deployed,” a staff sergeant from Joint Base Louis-McChord told a reporter. The sergeant served in Afghanistan for a year, even though he had injuries to his arm and rotator cuff.

Published on: October 18, 2011

Fire Fighter Smashed by Beam Has Returned Home to Finish Recovery

by Stephen Bilkis

A fire fighter from Duns was airlifted to a hospital after being seriously hurt while dealing with a blaze in the Borders. He lost the use of his legs after suffering serious spinal injuries when a beam fell on him while fighting a fire at the Eye mouth golf club.

Last summer, fire crews were called to a fire in a green keeper’s shed at the golf course. The building was ablaze and the fire fighter was injured when part of the structure collapsed.

About 35 members of the Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue responded to the shed where a number of chemicals and pesticides were stored, including three specialist chemical incident vehicles and two fire service experts.

Published on: October 8, 2011

Football scrimmage line leaves player with spinal cord injury, said a New York Spinal Injury Lawyer

by Stephen Bilkis

Football can be a whole lot of fun for those playing and those watching. However, it’s a highly physical game and there are bound to be injuries – serious injuries, such as spinal cord injuries. That is what happened in this case when a high school senior was involved in a scrimmage in 2008. He was told there was a bunch of things he would never be able to do again and would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, explained the New York Spinal Injury Lawyer. This is not tetraplegia but it is close to that terrible affliction.

The boy had no intentions of living up to that prognosis and has been chasing a variety of different therapies, including human embryonic stem cell injections around his C-5 spinal cord injury and bio feedback to help his brain reconnect with damaged neuropathways. He hopes to also increase his overall motor functions.

The young man’s injury is just behind the windpipe and the stem cell injections are intended to stimulate damaged tissue in that area, said the New York Spinal Injury Lawyer. Unfortunately, this kind of therapy is not available in the US and so the young man goes out of country to get it. Despite many people’s skepticism, he has seen some great improvement in his condition and actually has feeling in parts of his body that doctors said would never happen.

Published on: September 3, 2011

Severity of a Spinal Injury Determines Type of Treatment Conducted

by Stephen Bilkis

In order to improve the condition or prevent the damage caused by a fractured vertebra from trauma to the head, neck, or back. The type of treatment a person with injury to vertebrate in the individual’s thoracic spine needs depends on the severity of the injury. There are two treatment methods to address thoracic spine fractures. They are either a nonsurgical treatment or a surgical treatment, a New York Spinal Injury Lawyer conferred. Slip and Fall accidents can cause injuries which require surgical treatment as well as non surgical treatment. In Long Island and New York City, hospitals use both forms of treatment.

A doctor may choice a nonsurgical treatment method for someone with a compression fracture and some burst fractures. Nonsurgical treatments are used to treat fractures that are stable. They also take into account if there are any neurological deficits. If so, the doctor would do surgery.

The nonsurgical treatment involves the individual with the fracture to wear a hyperextension orthotic, cast, or brace. They would wear the brace for four to six weeks. Each person is different resulting in the brace to be worn for a shorter or longer period than others. Along with this treatment, the person will stay bedridden for one to three weeks.

Published on: August 27, 2011

Spinal surgery is an open procedure, using general anesthesia

by Stephen Bilkis

In the instances where there are broken bones in the spine, but no sign of neurologic difficulty, nonsurgical treatment can be appropriate. Compression fractures, in which the front or the side of the vertebrae is cracked, or some burst fractures, where a whole vertebra is cracked, are candidates for nonsurgical treatment, New York Spinal Injury Lawyers have learned. cervical spine injuries are not the same and doctors in New York City and Long Island treat this condition much differently. Nonsurgical treatment involves wearing a cast or a brace for 4 to 6 weeks. This period may be longer for individuals who have more severe injuries, or patients who have osteoporosis. It is not uncommon for physicians to recommend 1 to 3 weeks of bed rest.

Patients who have unstable fractures of the spine, where bones have been shattered, and the spinal cold stretched or pierced, often undergo surgical treatment. These procedures generally are used to realign the spine, stabilize the spine, and prevent (or even improve) any neurologic dysfunction. The actual treatment varies depending upon the severity of the injury on the spine and the spinal cord, as well as the general health of the patient, the patient’s age, and the personal discretion of the surgeon.

Spinal surgery is an open procedure, using general anesthesia, according to NY Spinal Injury Lawyers. These all require fusion of vertebrae to each other through metal plates, rods, wires, and/or screws to stabilize the spin. After the surgery is finished, a brace of some kind is used, as per nonsurgical treatment. There may also be the need for painkilling drugs after the surgery, which the doctor will prescribe.

Published on: July 30, 2011

A fracture of the thoracic spine means a break, or fracture

by Stephen Bilkis

A fracture of the thoracic spine means a break, or fracture, in one of the twelve bones that make up the thoracic region of the spine, in the upper back. This is the longest section of the spin, according to New York Spinal Injury Lawyers, and it has smaller vertebrae, a smaller spinal canal, and a less developed vascular system than the lower region of the back, the lumbar region. It also has more stability, however, due to support from the ribs and rib cage. It takes a great deal of force to harm the thoracic vertebrae.

Spinal Injury Lawyers of New York City have learned major trauma is the most common cause of thoracic fractures, due to such events as motor vehicle accidents, falls, sports injuries, and violence. Such injuries result in neurologic impairment in about 10% to 25% of individuals. Thos who suffer from bone conditions like osteoporosis may sustain fractures from minor injuries. Slip and Fall accidents in Queens and Long Island are often the cause of injuries like this.

The length of disability from such injuries can vary according to a number of factors. Things such as neurological damage, age of the victim, any complications, the stability of the fracture, the type of fracture, the treatment, and the type of job can all change the period of disability.

Published on: July 27, 2011

Walls and Rain Falling

by Stephen Bilkis

Near the end of April, a 38-year-old engineer died of a spinal injury when a part of the Freedom Park wall collapsed on his car. He had been sitting in the car talking on his phone. He left behind a wife and a 2-year-old daughter.

The mechanical engineer by training was a partner in a City firm he and his friend started seven years ago – SP Engineers and Contractors. The victim’s friend and business partner said it was “an unbearable loss” to loss his friend of more than two decades.

The victim had been looking for a parking spot and had been unable to find one. His friend blames the rain on the difficulty in finding a spot. He had been on his way to meet his business partner and two other friends at a hotel, as they did almost every day. When he didn’t show, his partner tried to call him, but didn’t get an answer. When they heard the wall had fallen, all three who were to meet him rushed to the scene and found him in his car crushed under the debris.

Published on: July 13, 2011

Settlement Reached between Gymnast and Gym

by Stephen Bilkis

December 2006 saw a settlement reached between a 17-year-old gymnast and the gym she practiced gymnastics at. She was injured at the facility and suffered paralysis in 2005.

Details of the case were sealed to the public. “This is a natural occurrence when one or more of the parties involved are a minor,” a New York Spinal Injury Attorney reported. Also attributed to the closed files, the parents and the girl’s attorney decided not to comment to the press at the time of the arraignment.

The Circuit Judge presiding over the case put his stamp of approval on the agreement.

Published on: June 20, 2011

School Administrator Worried about Football Injury Award

by Stephen Bilkis

In 1982 jury, in Seattle, Washington, awarded $6.3 million to a high school football player who sustained serious injuries while playing for the school’s team.

That judgment worried one school official. He worried that school boards across the country would be prompted to review the benefits of sports programs unfairly against the possible costs of lawsuits. Programs that could lead to injury, he argued, could possibly be unnecessarily cut.

At the time of the settlement, the claimant was 21 years old.