Prevention andTreatment of Bone Fractures

Bone fractures are very common. They occur when bones of the body face an extra high force and stress than the capacity of the bones to withstand. People do suffer fractures in different type of accidents like slip, trip and fall and sports accidents. Diseases like osteoporosis and cancer weakens the bones and also cause fractures. Symptoms of fractures include pain, swelling, deformation, bruising and in severe cases disability to use affected area. Serious fractures take several months to heal completely. It is important to take proper care to prevent fractures. In case of receiving the bone fracture complete and proper treatment is essential to minimize the symptoms. 

Prevention of Bone Fractures

Prevention is very important to avoid the worse effects of bone fractures. A person already suffering from osteoporosis may never walk in his life after receiving a fracture. Preventing fractures means to avoid its causes that usually slip, trip and fall and road traffic accidents. So, it is important to;

• Wear seat belts, to avoid injuries and fractures.Wear safety helmets and protective clothing while driving motorbikes and cycles. 

• Use safety tools and equipment in lifting and manual handling at workplace.

• Stay careful at workplace to avoid slipping on a wet floor, tripping due to trailing wires and displace objects and falling from the heights.

• Keep the walkways clear and clean to avoid slips, trips and falls.

• Take regular exercise, especially if you are suffering from osteoporosis. It may improve your fitness, balance and strength. 

Treatment of Bone Fractures

It is very important to start regular treatment soon after experiencing the bone fracture. Complete recovery from fracture may take several weeks to months. It all depends how care you give to your doctor’s advice and treatment process. To realign the bone at its actual position different options can be used including; 

• Surgery to place the bone in its original position.

• Immobilizationthrough cast and splint. The cast is used to fix the bone at its original position till it heals properly. 

• Traction is one of the techniques to align the bone using steady and gentle pulling exercise.

• Metal pins and screws are used to treat the fractures in external fixation and internal fixation methods.  

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Posted in Health Care

Pedestrian Safety: Stay Safe on Roads

Many a road traffic accidents involve pedestrian becoming the cause or victim of an accident. Drivers of trucks or buses often fail to look out pedestrians crossing the road and cause a collision. Motor vehicle, motorbikes and bicycles collisions with pedestrians are also common. Causes of pedestrian accidents are crossing a busy road, hit and run by a motor vehicle, jaywalking and dangerous or negligent driving. Majority victims of pedestrian accident are young children and old age people. Collision of pedestrian with motor vehicle causes very severe injuries and fatalities.   Both pedestrians and drivers can play their role to minimize the pedestrian accidents. Following are some tips to stay safe on the roads as a pedestrian.

•    Walk on walkways or foot paths. If there is no walkway then walk on the road facing the traffic.
•    Cross the roads when signal of ‘walk’ is displayed. Never try to cross when ‘Don’t walk’ signal is visible.
•    Wait for the complete stop of all the traffic then use specific crosswalks if possible otherwise try to cross the road at intersections.
•    Always follow the rule of looking left, right and again left before entering into the road or street. Guide your children also about the general rule of road crossing.
•    If you are trying to cross in front of a vehicle then must make an eye content with the other driver. It is important to pull the driver’s attention on you.
•    Try to avoid walking or crossing road at night. The majority of accidents take place at night when other driver’s fail to see any pedestrian.
•    Try to wear bright coloured clothing or use reflective materials at night to be visible to the other drivers. Flashlight use is helpful crossing road in dark.
•    Carefully walk or cross the road in weather conditions like snow, rain and fog.
•    Whenever possible try to cross the road along with other pedestrians.
•    Keep your full concentration on the traffic when crossing the road. Also keep your eyes on traffic signals to focus the green light turning red.
•    Do not write text messages when crossing the road. Also avoid using headphones for listening the calls or music. 

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Posted in Health Care

Safety Tips to Prevent Bicycle Accidents

Bicycle accidents are the cause of severe injuries and deaths of their victims, especially the children of the age 5 to 15 are more vulnerable to bicycle accidents. Life threatening bicycle accidents occur as a result of crashes between bicycles and motor vehicles. According to the statistics, 95% of motor vehicle and bicycle collisions cause severe injuries leading to deaths. Normal fall from bike due to any roadside obstruction result in minor injuries scratches, scars and sprains. But, car and bicycle crashes result in very serious types of injuries including broken bones, soft tissue damage, head injury and serious brain traumas. It is important for the cyclists to adopt safety standards in order to avoid dangerous accidents and injuries. Some tips to prevent bicycle accidents are as follows.

•    Use of helmets is very first and most important safety rule to avoid cycling accidents. Wearing helmets can reduces the brain and head injury chances up to 85 % in case of crash.
•    Tie your shoe laces appropriately to prevent falls from the bike. Do not wear loose suits that may stick into your bike chain and cause your bike to fall.
•    Keep your eyes on the road to avoid falling from potholes, raised surface or other obstruction. Do not attempt to make stunts and keep your hands on the handle bars of the bike.
•     It is parents’ responsibility to educate their children about cycling rules and safety tips. Do not allow young children to ride bicycles on main roadways.
•    Check maintenance of your bike before riding.
•    Do not ride bicycles at night or in low light conditions. At night other vehicle drivers fail to see cyclists that result in collisions. In case of cycling at night wear visible and bright colours.
•    Never use headphones for listening music when you are riding on a bicycle. Failing to hear traffic noise and driving with lack concentration can cause accidents.
•    As the majority of bicycle accidents occur due to another driver’s failure to see bicycle rider. So, always try to be seen and never move very closely to the other motor vehicles.
•    Abide by the traffic rules and regulations and also learn hand signals to communicate with the other drivers.

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Posted in Health Care

5 Things you didn’t know About Insurance

Having insurance is not as simple as it seems. Under the terms and conditions, there are several things that one may not know about his insurance. Such matters may include hidden benefits or losses. So, to get full advantage from your insurance must read all terms and conditions carefully. You can obtain maximum benefit from your insurance by having full awareness of your policy. It can also help you avoid damaging your insurance. Following are some important things that you didn’t know about your insurance.

1. Role of Insurance Adjuster Many of us do not know the exact role of insurance adjusters. Adjusters or inspectors are representatives of your insurance company and their purpose is to deny your claim or reduce your claim worth. Do not get confused to understand their role, they are not there to help you but support your insurance company.  

2. Keep your Insurer Up to Date As, the insurance company is responsible for informing his client about any change in the company’s policy or terms in the same way you are also responsible to keep your insurer up to date. Inform your insurer about your residence change, job change, and medical change and damaged goods. If you fail to give this information to your insurer then it can reduce your amount of cover.  

3. Important Time Limits Every insurance policy has some time limits. Many of people are not aware of time limits importance. You can not avail benefits from your insurance policy after its expiration. So, must renew your insurance before its expiry. It is also important to claim your damage within the time limits given in your policy.

4. Things that can be Covered under your Insurance You may not be aware of few things that can be covered under your car and home insurance. These things may include your lawyer’s fee, injured pet, stolen gifts, missing luggage, landscape damage and spoiled food.  

5. Damage from Natural Disaster It is important to note that any damage occurring as a result of natural disaster such as earthquake and flood cannot be covered under any insurance policy. Author Bio: Author is a law student with major interest in personal injury claims. He writes legal content for different websites and blogs. He gives his readers simple but important information about claim procedures, insurance policies and role of solicitors. His readers are inspired by his casual way of writing.

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Posted in Personal Injury

Brain Injuries Prevention

Paediatric Brain Injuries Related To Car Accidents

Research and statistics show that car accidents are the major cause behind serious injuries and fatalities in children than any other type of accidents. Motor vehicle crashes cause serious brain injuries especially in children under 1 year. Moreover, teen drivers are also extremely vulnerable to the brain injuries in car accidents. 

Types of Paediatric Brain Injuries

Children do sustain the serious kind of brain injuries in road accidents leading to psychological disorders and in most of the cases deaths. Different types of paediatric brain injuries are given as follows.

·         Skull base Fractures:

When any of the skull bones break as a result of an accident it cause skull base fractures. Different types of skull fractures include linear fractures, diastatic skull fracture, basilar skull fracture and depressed skull fractures.

·         Scalp injury

It cannot be termed as brain injury. Scalp injury cause mild to serious cuts, scratches and bumps to the scalp of the head. Sometimes head wounds do not heal within a days or due to excess bleeding scalp injury can turn into serious brain injury.

·         Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Motor vehicle accidents are a major cause of traumatic brain injuries. It results when the brain undergoes a sudden blow or trauma. TBI can be of different types that include mild, moderate and severe.

·         Other brain injuries may include haemorrhage (internal bleeding in the brain), cerebral contusion (inflammation of brain tissues), penetrating brain injuries and cerebrum injuries (contusions, lacerations or concussions).

Effects of Paediatric Brain Injuries

Following are the different effects and symptoms of Paediatric Brain Injuries.

·         Unconsciousness and continuous fatigue

·         Lack of concentration, confusion and memory loss

·         Headache and nausea

·         Eyesight damage

·         Speaking difficulties

·         Balancing and standing difficulties

·         Sleeplessness and loss of appetite

·         Weight loss.

Paediatric Brain Injuries Prevention

A huge responsibility lies on parents in order to secure their children from severe brain injuries in car accidents. Children sitting in the front seat of cars are more likely to receive serious injury in  a car accident than sitting in the second row. Use of restraints such as seat belts and suitable child safety seat can lower the brain injury chances for the children. Parents must also not allow their teenage children to drive a motor vehicle.

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Posted in Health Care

Manual handling health and safety regulations and back injuries compensation cases in the brick and refractories sector!

As in all industries, employers in the brick and refractories sector should consider the risks their staff face through manual handling tasks. Back injuries compensation claims are particularly commonplace in the brick industry - according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), around 44% of all injuries lasting for three days or longer it receives reports of from this sector are sprains, strains and similar manual handling injuries.
A particular risk is that posed when employees pack and inspect fired bricks. A study into the ergonomics of brick packing revealed that this task is particularly risky and can cause musculoskeletal disorders in the upper limbs and back. The HSE noted that it is a particularly hard job to complete and is hard work by anyone's standards.

Lower back pain is therefore a common problem suffered by these workers. Back strains, pulled muscles and similar injuries are twice as commonplace among these members of staff as they are among the general working population.

While automated brick packing systems have reduced the need for employees to complete this job, workplaces with high defect rates or lower levels of production may not be able to use these systems. As a result, they should closely consider health and safety regulations, identify any hazards and take steps to ameliorate these risks so that employees do not make back injuries compensation claims or suffer from health problems.

What should my business do to prevent back injuries compensation claims?

As in all sectors, properly managing risk is essential if brick sector employers are to prevent back injuries compensation claims and support the wellbeing of their employees.

Businesses should avoid telling staff to complete repetitive, physical or dangerous manual handling jobs whenever possible. Reasonable investments in machinery could help firms do so.

When work cannot be avoided, companies should assess the likelihood of injury and then do all they can to reduce these risks. The workforce and any union health and safety representatives should be consulted and involved in these processes.

A proper risk assessment will consider a number of different factors:

- Work practices

Issues such as shift systems, work rates, job rotation and breaks can impact on a person's likelihood of suffering a personal injury at work and should be considered in a firm's health and safety policy.

- Sizes and locations

The location of items such as monorail jigs, dispatch packs and kiln packs, and their size, will impact their reach heights and distances. Uncomfortable stretches or longer distances are associated with a greater risk of back pain.

- Accidents or injuries associated with the job

Businesses should monitor the injuries employees suffer when completing a job and should put steps in place to prevent similar injuries from occurring again,

- Variation in employee workloads

While experienced staff is less likely to suffer back injuries and have to claim accident at work compensation than inexperienced staff, overtired people are more likely to lift items badly or sprain their backs than those who are rested and relaxed.

How can I train my staff in manual handling in order to prevent back injuries compensation claims?

The HSE suggests that 33% of employee postures in monorail packing and 50% of employee postures in manual packing are dangerous and should be treated with remedial action. While ergonomically-designed working environments can minimise this hazard, staff training to prevent back injuries compensation claims should involve educating workers about the correct postures to take.

Furthermore, people will generally work in the least tiring manner, regardless of whether or not this could cause them to suffer a back injury at work. They will therefore try to carry heavy loads and do as few lifts as possible. As a result, businesses can implement strategies that can prevent them from doing so, such as by designing dispatch packs so they can only carry smaller loads. It can be difficult to train or compel staff to carry lighter loads, as this will require them to do more work.

Structured training should be provided to any employee who conducts dangerous manual handling tasks, and this should be specific to the worker's job. External training systems can often be inadequate, as they can take a more general approach.

Cooperation, trust and communication are a vital part of any health and safety policy. Employees should be able to tell their employers when they feel they are at risk of having an accident at work or when they feel their working practices are putting them at risk of back pain. Back injuries compensation cases can be prevented when employers pay attention to their staff and implement changes based on their recommendations.

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Posted in Personal Injury