Studies on Child Injury Prevention

Children are at risk everyday. They are the most vulnerable in cases of sickness, calamities, accidents and other dangers.

Due to their tender years and lack of understanding towards certain dangers, children are the most susceptible to injuries or death especially in car accidents.

The National Center for Health Statistics reveals that car crashes are the leading cause of death for children between 2 to 14 years old. In fact in 2003 alone, there are 2,136 children aged 2-14 who died in car accidents in the United States. And about 220,000 children in the same age group who suffered injuries while riding in cars involved in accidents.

This alarming and increasing numbers have prompted some researchers to study the causes of child injury during car accidents and the steps on how to avoid them.

Grewal’s Report

Harsh Grewal, M.D. is a pediatric surgeon at Temple University School of Medicine and Hospital. Together with his colleagues, they have reviewed 10 years' worth of medical literature on motor vehicle accidents and children.

Their study revealed that children involved in car accidents who were inappropriately seat belted were at higher risk for "seat-belt syndrome", a complex of injuries to the spine and abdomen.

As a result, when bruising or seat belt marks are seen in pediatric car accident victims, health care professionals should be wary of more serious injuries such as spinal cord injury, abdominal and/or spine tenderness and neurological deficits.

In fact, car accidents being the most common cause of injury and death in children are also the most common cause of spinal cord injury. Boys are more prone than girls, and the incidence increases with age.

Grewal recommends that an evaluation of a child car-accident victim includes a complete work-up for vertebral, spinal cord and intra-abdominal injuries. He also suggested that ideal treatment of possible spinal-cord injury should begin at the accident scene with proper stabilization and transportation of the victims. Otherwise, it can cause more injury to the body tissue.

Sherwood’s Research

Chris Sherwood is a research scientist in the Center for Applied Biomechanics at the University of Virginia. He conducted a study on what happens to children in car crashes.

In cooperation with University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and its School of Medicine, he conducted a series of experiments using crash dummies that simulate 1 year old and 3 year old children.

Crash experiments involving the dummies which are strapped into various car seats and sent on a “sled” that shoots along a 66-foot-long track at 30 miles per hour until it slams into a barrier, are performed.

The dummies’ displaced bodies at the moment of impact are captured on high-speed video. The force of impact on different parts of the dummies’ bodies is also recorded by attached sensors and transmitted to a nearby computer for data storage and analysis.

By doing this, the effectiveness of different child-restraint design components and orientations is examined. These restraint systems include rear-facing infants’ seats, forward-facing children’s seats, children’s booster seats and adult shoulder-belt systems for older children. The knowledge they have gained will eventually enable manufacturers to make safer cars.

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