Bicycle Accident Injury

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: December 12, 2011

Utah Teen Severely Injured In Wrestling Match

by Stephen Bilkis

A benefit dinner was held recently in behalf of Heber, Utah student who suffered a severe neck injury while wrestling that left him with the possibility of permanent paralysis.

The high school senior, who attended Wasatch High School, was performing a wrestling move that he had done numerous times before. While performing this move, a vertebrae in his neck was dislocated, leaving him the possibility of life-long paralysis or paraplegia, stated a source.

His friends and family have stated that the high school senior has kept a positive outlook, and always has a smile on his face, even facing the future lifelong adversity. According to a witness, the high school wrestler has begun to feel some sensation in his arms, which has added to his feeling of elation. Hospitals in Brooklyn and Suffolk County have taken note of these developments.

Published on: December 8, 2011

Sciatic Pain Affects Many

by Stephen Bilkis

Many people know the agony of sudden sharp pains in the leg that seem to have no cause. Experts have heard about it from many clients. The pain is sometimes so awful that the client can barely stand or walk. Many of them have no idea what is happening to them, or that it is related to the spinal cord. It is called sciatica, and it involves the nerves. This condition is sometimes caused by slip and fall accidents.

According to doctors in New York City and Westchester County, sciatica is not so much a medical diagnosis, but a symptom of other problems in the lower back. Sciatica is what is known as a “radiculopathy” to doctors. It means a disc in the lower back has slipped from its position to put pressure on the radicular nerve (nerve root) in the lower back.

People between 30 and 50 years of age are most likely to suffer from sciatica. Sometimes, it is not caused by a specific injury, as it can just develop through time as general wear and tear on the lower spine. That does not mean, however, that it cannot be caused by injury.

Published on: December 3, 2011

Spine Injury doesn’t keep woman from dancing

by Stephen Bilkis

A 28-year-old woman suffered a terrible spinal cord injury in a car accident in 2008, breaking one of her vertebra and destroying the nerves to her spinal cord. Despite the fact that she has no sensation from her hips down, she still intends to walk down the aisle, when she gets married in April 2011.

She and her fiancée practice their wedding dance at the Detroit Medical Center’s Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan. The woman has been going there three times a week for two years. At first, she went to become stronger and regain her independence, but since her fiancée proposed to her, her goal is now to walk down the aisle even with a spinal cord injury.

“I wasn’t going to let this wheelchair stop me,” she told a friend.

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: November 27, 2011

Blow Out Injures Octogenarian

by Stephen Bilkis

Studies have learned of an 84-year-old man who lived the life of a man decades younger. He didn’t take any medications, played golf, traveled, walked four miles most days, and worked out three times a week.

Part of that fitness routine was work on an inflated exercise ball, until the day after Thanksgiving 2009. He was sitting on the ball, pulling cables attached to weights, when the ball popped without warning. The fall to the hard floor broke his back causing spinal injury.

It was weeks before he learned the ball had been recalled in May of 2009. After surgeries and resulting digestive complications, he walks slowly and can’t sit or stand for extended periods, according to observers in Staten island and Westchester County . He also has to take blood pressure medication. His exercise is physical therapy to keep the pain in his back at bay.

Published on: November 25, 2011

Legislation to Include Traffic Tickets to Cure Paralysis

by Stephen Bilkis

Legislation has been introduced in the California legislature that seeks to impose a $3 fine onto every ticket that is issued in California for reckless driving. Assembly Bill 190, as the legislation has been titled, seeks to reestablish the goal of another California law that funded spinal cord paralysis research. That law was referred to as “Roman’s Law.”

Roman’s Law was named after the college football player who was involved in an accident while playing college football in 1994, in which he was paralyzed, discovered a person close to the scene. His father, Don C. Reed, worked hard to establish the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Center and was a citizen-sponsor for the Roman’s Law legislation. The laws official name was the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act of 1999, Assembly Bill 750.

Roman’s Law was one of the few pieces of legislation that has passed the legislature that almost everyone, republican and democrat alike actually agreed on and supported. Former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was also a supporter of the bill. The research the bill has been attributed with include stem cell, the Geron trials, the use of an “Avatar” helmet where the wearer can move a computer cursor across a computer screen by using their thoughts, and many others.

Published on: November 21, 2011

Paralyzed 25 Year Old Quickly Becoming Dressage Champion

by Stephen Bilkis

A spinal injury has not slowed down a 25-year-old dressage champion, at least not much. According to a doctor, the young woman broke her spine in a tragic riding accident at the age of 20.

The young woman fell off of a friend’s horse when the horse suddenly reared, and then was further injured when the horse fell on top of her. Since the accident, the young woman from Inverness has worked her way back up to being a top competitor at Scotland’s Para Dressage Team. She has also competed in competitions for non-disabled riders with her horse, Murphy.

The Inverness woman knew she had been severely hurt as soon she landed. She began riding at the age of four, and literally grew up in the saddle, states a New York Spinal Injury Lawyer. She spent a month in physiotherapy at the Queen Elizabeth Spinal Injuries Unit in Glasgow. At the hospital she learned how to sit up by herself, and once she did so she was determined to ride again. Therapy like this are common at hospitals in Queens and Staten Island.

Published on: November 18, 2011

Three Men on Trial for Paralyzing Police Officer

by Stephen Bilkis

Earlier this month, a preliminary hearing wrapped up for three men accused of beating and causing paraplegia an Oklahoma City Police Officer. The Oklahoma County Special Judge ruled that the three men could stand trial.

The officer was attacked when he was escorting the defendants out of a northwest Oklahoma City bar last February after the bartenders there asked him to. The men were allegedly trying to start fights with customers.  Witnesses testified that one of the men held the officer in a headlock and lifted his body. This is likely when the officer’s neck broke.   The operating surgeon said the officer suffered a complete spinal cord injury. A spokesperson indicated that the injury likely shortened his life by 10 to 15 years.  Witnesses also reported that another of the men threw haymaker punches at the officer’s head while the third kept anyone from coming to the officer’s rescue.  All three men are charged with one count of maiming or assault and battery by means of force that is likely to cause death. If convicted, each defendant could face a life sentence in prison.  The judge dismissed another charge of conspiracy to assault and battery of a police officer. He agreed with defense attorneys who insisted the three men did not plan the attack.  The District Attorney reported that the man’s family has remained strong throughout the testimony, even if they were disappointed with the conspiracy charge being dismissed. The possibility of life imprisonment seems “just” enough to them, at this point.

The DA is expected to appeal the dismissal of the conspiracy charge. The three men are to be arraigned on June 10. The pre-trial date will be set then. Oklahoma City Police Officers have initiated a bowling and auction event set for June 11. The proceeds are to go to the officer and his family. Police in Queens and New York City are sympathetic to the officer in this case.

Published on: November 15, 2011

Man Falls 1,000 feet And Survives

by Stephen Bilkis

Adam Potter is becoming a household name after the 36-year-old Glasgow man fell a startling 1,000 feet and lived to tell about it. Potter and his companions had reached the summit of Sgurr Coinnich Mor (3,589 feet) when Potter somehow lost his footing and began to fall down a rocky, steep eastern slope of the mountain. According to a New York Spinal Injury Lawyer, a helicopter was nearby on training exercises and arrived on the scene thirty minutes after being called and began searching immediately.

The helicopter was able to spot the climbers that had been with Potter, who were able to point out the direction that the helicopter should search. The crew of the Helicopter became confused when the only person they could spot at the bottom was a man, standing up and reading a map. After retracing the route he fell off the mountain, they ascertained that it must be who they were looking forward. The paramedic who was lowered to Potter initially diagnosed him with a chest injury and superficial cuts and bruises, as well as emotional shock.

A reporter stated that after coming aboard the helicopter, Potter’s injuries were reassessed by a doctor who was on the helicopter due to the training mission. They immediately transferred Potter to the Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital.