Citation

Greenberg MI. JACEP 1978; 7(8): 300-301.

Affiliation

Section of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19129.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, American College of Emergency Physicians, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

45693

Abstract

Falls from heights are most commonly due to accidents in children and suicide, accident, and crime-related incidents in adults. Two types of injury result from falls from heights: injury resulting from direct impact and deceleration-type injury. The injuries resulting from direct impact are mostly fractures. The body position at impact is crucial. The deceleration forces immediately post-impact result primarily in visceral and internal injury, including cranial injury. There is a lack of correlation between os calcis fractures and vertebral fractures. Spinal cord injury is infrequent. Survival figures are higher than usually assumed.

Language: en