Understanding Why You Hurt

The human body was not made for the industrial age. Whereas the greatest risk of injury may have been from predators and human enemies for rural or primitive people, our modern machines are today’s dreadful foes, subjecting us to forces our bodies were not designed to withstand. Through advances in medical science, we have come to better understand the pathology of how our human tissue, bones and organs are injured in an accident.

When a bone is broken, it is obvious that this was the result of direct force against the bone. Likewise, when we are cut or struck by something, the cause, or mechanism of injury, is also clear. But as a result of the heights we climb, the speeds we travel, and the size of our vehicles, our bodies are often severely injured, without some direct or obvious force against the part of the body sustaining the injury.

There is an old joke about falling: it wasn’t the falling that hurt, it was the stopping. This joke is exactly right. The injury in a fall is the result of not just the contact with part of our body against a hard object, such as the ground, but also because of the rapid change in speed of our bodies when they come into contact with the ground. This is why a fall from a high bridge will kill, even though the body comes into contact with a soft object, water. Because the body is moving so rapidly, even though it does not come to a complete stop at once, the change in speed is so dramatic, that it kills. Our bodies are only capable of withstanding the change in speed of routine movements.

It is this same basic principle that explains the so-called whiplash injury. Rapid changes in speed of the head and torso, commonly occurring in even minor vehicle damage accidents, can permanently damage the brain, neck, back and spinal cord.
NEXT: Non-Obstacles to Recovery.

Understanding Subtle Brain Injury

The concussions that disable, are almost always more symptomatic at 24 hours, than at the 2-4 hour time frame when injured persons are evaluated in the emergency room. Brain injury symptoms escalate over the first 24 hours, because brain injury involves a cascade of events. It is critical that if you are still symptomatic the day after your injury, go back to the same Emergency Room, don’t wait for a doctors appointment. It is critical that the Emergency Room personnel see that the symptoms still persist or have gotten worse.

View Our Video Series on Concussions