More than one blow to the head?

Chrishope

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I'm having trouble believe such a long skull fracture, with a pice dislodged, could happen w/o apparent damage to the scalp. I don't know much about such things, so I'm wondering if it could have been a series of impacts?
 
I think a series of impacts may have been more likely to knock more bone pieces loose.

God that sounds terrible:(
 
BirdieBoo said:
I think a series of impacts may have been more likely to knock more bone pieces loose.

God that sounds terrible:(
Yes, more than one blow would cause different impact points. This must have been one massive blow with a lot of force. IMO a baseball bat or lump of wood.
 
Chrishope said:
I'm having trouble believe such a long skull fracture, with a pice dislodged, could happen w/o apparent damage to the scalp. I don't know much about such things, so I'm wondering if it could have been a series of impacts?
I think if you hit the skull just right it has many weak areas. I have friends that lost their 4 yo to a head blow. He hit his head on a curb and there were no outwards signs of trauma. Coupla booboo kisses and sent him on his way.The next day he cried for his mom, soiled his pants and died.
 
JBean said:
I think if you hit the skull just right it has many weak areas. I have friends that lost their 4 yo to a head blow. He hit his head on a curb and there were no outwards signs of trauma. Coupla booboo kisses and sent him on his way.The next day he cried for his mom, soiled his pants and died.
That is absolutely horrible.
frown.gif
 
That is horrible, JBean.

But it anticpates what I was going to say. Sometimes it's not the number, it's where they go.
 
SuperDave said:
That is horrible, JBean.

But it anticpates what I was going to say. Sometimes it's not the number, it's where they go.
Most definitely.
 
JBean said:
I think if you hit the skull just right it has many weak areas. I have friends that lost their 4 yo to a head blow. He hit his head on a curb and there were no outwards signs of trauma. Coupla booboo kisses and sent him on his way.The next day he cried for his mom, soiled his pants and died.
JBean, empty your PM box.
 
I'm very curious about the fracture, but I don't understand enough medical stuff to figure anything out. It probably took me an hour to figure out where it was located and I'm not sure I still totally understand.

I wonder if it was one blow and the part that broke apart was because it was at a skull suture which would make it a little less strong? I hope I'm making myself clear.

Does anyone know how a child skull develops. I know it, or parts of it, is pliable, when they are born. When does it become brittle? When does it become as strong as an adults?


Here a little research I found (I think on wikipedia). I don't know that I understand how it "buckles", but I would think the amount it buckles would be related to the size of the gap of fracture which would be related to the force.


Linear fracture

Linear skull fractures, the most common type of skull fracture, occur in 62% of patients with severe head injury (Gilbert, 1990; Graham and Gennareli, 2000). Usually caused by widely distributed forces, linear fractures often occur when the impact causes the area of the skull that was struck to bend inward, making the area around it buckle outward (Gilbert, 1990; Graham and Gennareli, 2000).

In rare cases, a linear fracture can develop and lengthen as the brain swells, in what is called a growing fracture. This can cause growth of cysts in the meninges (Orlando Regional Healthcare, 2004; Graham and Gennareli, 2000). Diastatic fractures are linear fractures that cause the bones of the skull to separate at the skull sutures in young children whose skull bones have not yet fused (BAIUSA; Orlando Regional Healthcare, 2004). They are usually caused by impact with a wide area such as a wall (Gilbert, 1990).

[edit]

Comminuted fracture

Comminuted skull fractures, those in which a bone is shattered into many pieces, can result in bits of bone being driven into the brain, lacerating it (Gilbert, 1990). Depressed skull fractures, a very serious type of trauma occurring in 11% of severe head injuries, are comminuted fractures in which broken bones are displaced inward (Graham and Gennareli, 2000). This type of fracture carries a high risk of increasing pressure on the brain, crushing the delicate tissue. Complex depressed fractures are those in which the dura mater is torn.

 
"I wonder if it was one blow and the part that broke apart was because it was at a skull suture which would make it a little less strong? I hope I'm making myself clear."

Think of it like cracking ice. When you hit it in a certain spot, it just spider-webs. Other points, it cracks in a long line.
 
SuperDave said:
"I wonder if it was one blow and the part that broke apart was because it was at a skull suture which would make it a little less strong? I hope I'm making myself clear."

Think of it like cracking ice. When you hit it in a certain spot, it just spider-webs. Other points, it cracks in a long line.
Yeah, I agree with that, but JBR's was a wide gap, not a small stress fracture.
 
Gap from the blow itself, crack from the stress, is how Spitz put it, I think.
 
"Is the width of the gap is related to the force of the blow?"

Possibly.
 
and the only thing I can think of is an egg, which is pretty poor. However, if you crack an egg, the major indentation will be at the first two surfaces that meet at one point and stress, which is actually a force, will dissipate outwardly from that point. Stress is an internal distribution of force. The gap caused is dependent on the distribution of the force and the amount of force used. Stress is secondary to force. In other words, the reaction is in direct proportion to the action.

If you take an egg, and tap it lightly with a small spoon, you'll see that there is a slight depression, with as Dave put it, spider webbing outwards. If you exert more pressure the spoon will displace the part of the shell it first came in contact with, a crack will appear, and then spider webbing will be seen along the crack.
 

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