Please don't drink and drive

How many drinks would it take to be considered drunk?  Too drunk to drive?  Have you ever wondered....okay have you ever wondered this BEFORE you started drinking and not after?

Okay, one (1) drink per hour is a safe calculation.....it's too hot after that long.

Here is a calculator that tells you (estimate) what your BAC (Blood Alcohol Count) would be after so many drinks in so many hours.....COOL!! BUT.....I just learned that if I have four (4) beers at 6% alcohol in 2 1/12 hours oops DUI.  This shocked me because when I have four (4) beers at 6% alcohol in 2 1/2 hours I FEEL FINE....I guess that's where the impairment comes in huh?

So here's the thing.  No one wants you to drive drunk or impaired....even bar owners.  If you aren't safe you won't return, am I right?  It used to be called a $10,000 DUI...well those days are over because the with the increase of insurance, legal fees, fines, bail it could be up to $25,000 when you are finished.....that is $6250.00 PER BEER I just had.  MSN has a breakdown of most fees that may be incurred with a DUI. (MSN Money arrive alive).

It is important that if you are going to be drinking please do not drive.  Get a designated driver, call a cab or call a friend (hopefully not the friend who was sitting next to you drinking with you).  I am going to have to call someone or have a designated driver as the calculator says I am allowed two (2) beers at 6% alcohol in a 2 1/2 hour time span.

Colorado Car Wreck | The Auto Injury Clinic wants you to be safe.  Please know your limit and always have a designated driver before going out.

What is Spinal Cord Injury? Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that results in a loss of function such as mobility or feeling. Frequent causes of damage are trauma (car accident, gunshot, falls, etc.) or disease (polio, spina bifida, Friedreich's Ataxia, etc.). The spinal cord does not have to be severed in order for a loss of functioning to occur. In fact, in most people with SCI, the spinal cord is intact, but the damage to it results in loss of functioning. SCI is very different from back injuries such as ruptured disks, spinal stenosis or pinched nerves.
A person can "break their back or neck" yet not sustain a spinal cord injury if only the bones around the spinal cord (the vertebrae) are damaged, but the spinal cord is not affected. In these situations, the individual may not experience paralysis after the bones are stabilized.
What is the spinal cord and the vertebra? The spinal cord is about 18 inches long and extends from the base of the brain, down the middle of the back, to about the waist. The nerves that lie within the spinal cord are upper motor neurons (UMNs) and their function is to carry the messages back and forth from the brain to the spinal nerves along the spinal tract. The spinal nerves that branch out from the spinal cord to the other parts of the body are called lower motor neurons (LMNs). These spinal nerves exit and enter at each vertebral level and communicate with specific areas of the body. The sensory portions of the LMN carry messages about sensation from the skin and other body parts and organs to the brain. The motor portions of the LMN send messages from the brain to the various body parts to initiate actions such as muscle movement.(http://www.spinalinjury.net/html/_spinal_cord_101.html)

Car Accidents can cause numerous problems to the body. Spinal cord injuries can affect your hands, arms, legs and feet.  Depending where the injury will determine what other parts of your body will be affected. A neck injury can affect your arm while a back injury can affect your legs. When you are involved in a car accident and you don't "feel" any injuries seek medical attention anyway. It may take several weeks before any injuries will be discovered.

At Colorado Car Wreck you will get the attention YOU deserve and need. 

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Teenage drivers

One of the most exciting events in a teenager's life is also the most deadliest.

What every parent should know but is often afraid to know

 

Information provided by:
Insurance Institute for Highway safety
and Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association


In 2007, the latest year for which data are available, motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of death among 13-19 year-old males and females in the United States.

• A total of 3,466 teenagers ages 13-19 died in motor vehicle crashes in 2009. This is 60 percent fewer than in 1975 and 15 percent fewer than in 2008. 
• Thirty-three percent of deaths among 13-19-year-olds occurred in motor vehicle crashes, 39 percent among females and 31 percent among males.
• 16-year-olds have higher crash rates than drivers of any other age.
• The crash rate per mile driven is twice as high for 16-year-olds as it is for 18- and 19-year-olds.
• About 2 out of every 3 teenagers killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2009 were males.
• Sixty percent of teenage passenger deaths in 2009 occurred in vehicles driven by another teenager. Among deaths of passengers of all ages, 18 percent occurred when a teenager was driving.
• Statistics show that 16- and 17-year-old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger.
• Eighty-three percent of teenage motor vehicle crash deaths in 2009 were passenger vehicle occupants. The others were pedestrians (7 percent), motorcyclists (4 percent), bicyclists (2 percent), riders of all-terrain vehicles (2 percent), and people in other kinds of vehicles (2 percent).
• Fifty-five percent of motor vehicle crash deaths among teenagers in 2009 occurred on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
• In states with GDL programs that include at least five of the most important elements, there was a 20% reduction in fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers.
• In 2006 (latest data available) crashes involving 15- to 17-year-olds cost more than $34 billion nationwide in medical treatment, property damage and other costs, according to an AAA analysis.

How do teenage crashes differ from those of other drivers
According to the IIHS
Analyses of fatal crash data indicate that crashes of teenage drivers are more likely to be attributed to driver error. Teenagers' fatal crashes are more likely to involve speeding than those of older drivers, and teenagers are more likely than drivers of other ages to be in single-vehicle fatal crashes. Plus teenagers do more of their driving in small and older cars and at night, compared with adults. In 2010, 17 percent of teenagers' fatalities occurred between 9 p.m. and midnight, and 24 percent occurred between midnight and 6 a.m. Fifty-five percent of teenagers' fatalities occurred on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

The more you know, the more prepared you are the safer your child will be.  Colorado Car Wreck would rather not meet you under these circumstance but should you ever need us we will be there to help you.

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Ligament injuries

We all think that a broken bone is painful…..we only think that UNTIL we have had a ligament injury.  We don’t often associate car accidents with ligament injuries….UNTIL it happens to you.  We are all familiar with Whiplash…we understand what that means, right?  

There are several different injury results that come from whiplash; the soft tissue for muscles, nerves and ligaments.

According to Dr. Sutton there are two types of ligament injuries:

1. Complete Failure (which is often called a “tear”)
2. Sub-failure (“stretching” of a ligament)

First we need to know what ligaments are: 

According to Livestrong: Ligaments are bands of fibrous tissue that connect two bones together to increase the stability of a joint. A torn ligament results in pain, swelling, bruising and an inability to move the joint, states Medline Plus, of the National Institutes of health. A pop or tear may be heard or felt at the time of injury. Mild sprains or partial tears are treated conservatively, while a severe sprain may require surgical repair.

Ligament injuries can often be difficult to discover. Your standard x-rays won’t discover them BUT the DMX (Digital Motion X-Ray) can!

DMX technology can reveal these sub-failure ligament injuries in as little as 15 minutes! This allows the Doctor to specifically determine which ligaments are injured.

Learn more about DMX at coloradocarwreck.com

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More on the history of pain treatment

Okay, so we get smarter, right?

Well, we know what happened in the early 1900's......more than 200,000 people addicted to opium so Congress passed a law in 1909 prohibiting the manufacture and sale of opium.

1915-1951- The Violet Ray Generator.  Tens of thousands were sold.  The claim was it cured paralysis, wry neck and writer's cramp among other things.  In 1951 the FDA banned the manufacture from claiming it provided medical cures.

1919:  The Electreat:  (The TENS device):  Patented by Charles Willie Kent, operated on two "D" batteries and a mechanical inductorium.  A roller was at the top and applied to the skin, plug in sponge pad electrodes were supplied to the area.

1939:  Remember I said 200,000 people are addicted to opium?  Germany was the first to synthesize Methadone for pain relief.

1944-1948:  The opening of Nerve Block Clinics which were devoted to the treatment of pain.

1967:  Neurostimulators:  implantation was done on six patients in 1970 by Neurosurgeon C. Norman Shealy.

1972:  The neurostimulators were first marketed to neurosurgeons but the device was renamed to spinal cord stimulators.

1976:  First totally implantable neurostimulator:  The Cardiac pacemaker.

1980's:  Epidurals.  This is the use of opioids administered directly into the spinal column.

1997:  IDET:  Intradiscal electrothermic therapy was introduced as treatment for chronic low back pain.  This involves killing nerve fibers by heating a catheter positioned inside the spinal disc.

2004-2005:  The first rechargeable spinal cord stimulation systems became available in the U.S.

2008:  St. Jude Medical introduces the longest lasting rechargeable neurostimulator to treat chronic pain of the trunk or limbs and pain from failed back surgery....the Eon Mini.  (Advanced Neuromodulation Systems. Eon Neurostimulation System Clinician's Manual.  Plano, Tex.; 2005)  2010 Approved in Japan.

I am so glad that Colorado Car Wreck | The Auto Injury Clinic has the latest technology!!!

Visit their website to learn more.

The way they USED to deal with pain

I am so glad I was born in my generation and not generation in the past.  What used to be done for pain, by today's standard, ARE CRAZY!!!

Lets first take a look at BC:  Opium was the drug of choice as we discovered by the Egyptian Medical Scrolls dating back to 1500 BC.  During this time another form of pain treatment was 600 Bolts of electricity first discovered in ancient Greece.


Let's not forget Leeches, 500-1500 AD!  They were applied to the skin to treat headaches!!!!

richard-seaman.com

In the 1750's:  Who can forget kite flying Benjamin Franklin.  Yes, while out flying his kite he verified electricity.....did you know that he experimented with the creation of batteries also?  During this time they used batteries to send electrical stimulation to treat pain.
Early 1800's Morphine replaced Opium.

1874:  For those of you who thought marijuana just started for pain, guess again.  The cannabis plant was a "well regarded" way to treat headaches.

1882:  The Faradic Electrifier, which claimed to treat Rheumatism, Disease of the Liver, Stomach and Kidneys, Lung Complaints, Paralysis, Lost Vitality, Nervous Disability, Female Complaints which later the inventor, Kent was the first to be prosecuted by the FDA for false advertising.

1898:  Advertised by Germany's Bayer Company:  At least 10 times as potent a painkiller as morphine without any of the "addicting properties."  Can you guess what this was?      HEROIN!

I don't know about you but I am pretty glad I was not in pain during these times.  No wonder the average life span in the 1800's was under 40!!



Colorado Car Wreck | The Auto Injury Clinic ONLY uses the LATEST and PROVEN technologies to treat their patients.  Click here to read and learn more.

The Secrets AFTER a car accident

Okay, so you have been in a car accident.  Here are a few secrets you HAVE to know before you say anything to anyone.


Insurance companies ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND!!  They will call you, and more often than not it is being recorded, to see if you are okay and to ask you a few "questions."  DO NOT AGREE TO DO THIS. Even the truth can hurt you later on.  Imagine a murder suspect in interrogations...the police are allowed to lie to the suspect in the hopes of a confession.  After the car accident you are now in this situation.  The insurance company will lie to you in hopes to get the answers they need.

Their ONLY GOAL, no matter what they say, is to 

SAVE MONEY!!

If you are hurt you need to seek medical attention.  Keep in mind that not all injuries do not materialize right away.  It is essential that you seek a PROFESSIONAL and RESPECTED Doctor as your injuries can cause long term damage OR hurt your claim if not documented correctly.  If you are in Colorado I recommend Colorado Car Wreck | The Auto Injury Clinic.  Be honest with your Doctors...but be careful how you respond on the initial paperwork.  


Here's my oops that I want you to learn from:

By this....I strongly urge you not to answer the question "What are you doing for the pain?" with......."lots of alcohol."

Negotiations:  Lets be honest...we all think we can "get more" if we don't hire an Attorney.  

"Insurance companies will NEVER tell you to consult an attorney, because they know that if you hire an attorney, you will get more money, even after you pay the attorney, than you will get if try to negotiate with them yourself. Insurance companies will NEVER tell you that their negotiators and claims adjusters are often attorneys."  (The Washington Times) 

Did you know that Insurance Companies will often request your Doctor's summary to compare with other Doctors?  Did you know that they PAY other Doctor's to review your injuries to decide if treatment is necessary?  

Guess what the findings are......yep, treatment wasn't necessary.  

Don't get bullied by the Insurance Company!  Get medical treatment from an HONEST and REPUTABLE Doctor and/or clinic!  If you are in the Colorado area I highly recommend Colorado Car Wreck | The Auto Injury Clinic where they are there to help you through this terrible, painful, time in your life.....a clinic that can't be "bought" by the Insurance Companies.