Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

james,

You can do a vast amount to prevent future head impacts.

First, with your father, I would be tempted to tell him that the next time he hits you on or near your head, that you will file assault charges. He needs to understand how vulnerable to injury your brain is.

By most assault statutes, an assault to your head can be a felony because it can cause irreversible damage with risk of serious injury or death.

Regarding the other things in life that can inadvertently cause a head impact.

You can learn to protect your head without having to stop your life. I love roller coasters. I have learned how to tolerate the wooden coasters that tend to shake more. I let my body absorb the shaking as far from my head as possible. I do this by not supporting my head or shoulders against the restraints or seat back. This allows the amount of shock absorption needed to prevent a head shake incident.

I know that I can not play contact sports (football, basketball soccer etc.)

I know that I need to snow ski with a helmet. I had to learn to use my legs to absorb the shock of a icy and rutted trail.

The simple fact to understand is this. If your head were to drop only 8 inches onto a hard surface, it would hit with about 120 plus G's. If is has 1/8 inch of padding, the impact would be halved (60 G's) If there is 1/4 inch of padding, the G force would be about 30 G's.

I know these numbers because I injured my brain with an 8 inch drop with about 1/8th inch of padding at impact. That impact forever changed my life.

An important way to protect your brain is to walk, jog, ride a bike, etc. with your back bent forward a bit. This S curve in your back allows for a substantial amount of impact absorption. An overly erect spine will transmit strong forces to your brain.

Here is an easy experiment. Put in foam ear plugs and/or ear muff style hearing protection. Walk and jog using different foot plants. Land on your heals and then on the ball of your foot, with your back arched straight and bent slightly. You can hear the impact in your ears. It will be loudest when the impact is strongest (landing on your heals with back arched) and quietest when the impact is weakest ( landing on the ball of your foot with back bent forward slightly)

I suffered my worst brain injury in 1965. I was able to live a normal life with just a few precautions until 2001 when my life changing injury happened.

So, learn a bit about your brain and then go on and live life with just a few precautions. Throwing caution out the window is not an acceptable option. If you think life is tough now, try to imagine living with a brain that has no short term memory and is so dysfunctional that you can not drive.

Example, I can get lost walking into a unfamiliar house yet be only two corners from seeing the front door. I can forget a name or number before I finish trying to dial the phone.

You have a lot of brain function to protect and lose very little life as you take precautions.

You precautionary measures can protect your ability to drive. The freedom of mobility by driving is devastating to lose. I have not driven in 8 years.