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Prevention

By Mayo Clinic staff

These steps may help to prevent or minimize head injury:

  • Use recreational safety equipment. Wear appropriate and properly fitting safety equipment during sports, including a helmet when bicycling, motorcycling, skiing, horseback riding, skating or doing any activity that may result in head injury.
  • Buckle your seat belt. Doing so may prevent or minimize damage to your head in a motor vehicle accident.
  • Protect your kids. To protect children, use properly fitting car seats, pad countertops and edges of tables, block off stairways, tether heavy furniture or appliances to the wall to prevent tipping, and keep children from climbing on unsafe or unsteady objects.
References
  1. Traumatic brain injury: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tbi/detail_tbi.htm. Accessed May 9, 2009.
  2. Traumatic brain injury. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec21/ch310/ch310a.html#S21_CH310_T001. Accessed May 11, 2009.
  3. Smith ML, et al. Neurosurgery. In: Brunicardi FC, et al. Schwartz's Principles of Surgery. 8th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, Medical; 2005. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=820106. Accessed May 8, 2009.
  4. Facts about concussion and brain injury. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/tbi/tbibook.pdf. Accessed May 8, 2009.
  5. Moulton RJ, et al. Head injury and intracranial hypertension. In: Hall JB, et al. Principles of Critical Care. 3rd ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, Medical; 2005. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2297849. Accessed May 8, 2009.
  6. Ropper AH. Concussion and other head injuries. In: Fauci AS, et al. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 17th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2904523. Accessed May 12, 2009.
  7. Rordorf G. Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage: Pathogenesis, clinical features, and diagnosis. http://www.uptodate.com/index/home.html. Accessed May 12, 2009.

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June 26, 2009

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