tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post4011694452088291023..comments2024-03-28T10:32:27.517+03:00Comments on Stories from the trauma bay: ObesityDocBastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12224592098492491365noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-55651155137466827032017-04-21T02:06:27.675+03:002017-04-21T02:06:27.675+03:00I was riding my horse. She spooked and ran into th...I was riding my horse. She spooked and ran into the road, and we were hit by a car. Surgeon told me my obesity probably saved my leg. (It's got a rod in it now, and yes, I'm still overweight, but not to the same extent. <br />Weight is really freaking hard, dang it!)Laurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13940752922338076640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-73259822153364861592016-08-03T20:28:12.638+03:002016-08-03T20:28:12.638+03:00I'm not an expert on medicine or car safety, s...I'm not an expert on medicine or car safety, so take this with an entire bowl of salt.<br /><br />Many car seatbelts now have force limiters, which do exactly that - they allow the seatbelt to extend a bit if enough force is placed on it. This allows the organs additional room to decelerate. Toyota made a short video of it at http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k2twNZc-gGI<br />Seatbelts are an engineering challenge with a clear scope and goal, which means that engineers can enjoy working in them. Whether the car companies actually put the resources into it can be a different story.<br /><br />For an obese person, the initial pretensioners would not be as effective, and the force limiter will allow more travel than optimal. It's possible that the extra flesh in front of the person is as effective at dampening the impact as these devices would be, but I doubt it.<br /><br />Chances are that the optimal passenger in a crash is the same size and weight as a crash test dummy, as the safety features are designed for those standards.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15240789556418453253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-10362313120145238402016-07-28T22:00:05.950+03:002016-07-28T22:00:05.950+03:00interesting question. now I'm curious, too.interesting question. now I'm curious, too.Ken Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15166383392696452631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-78586076723194970592016-07-27T08:15:16.380+03:002016-07-27T08:15:16.380+03:00Oh, I hope that Liam will be fine. The story as al...Oh, I hope that Liam will be fine. The story as always very interesting and exciting! There are a lot writing tips on <a href="http://proofreading-services.org/" rel="nofollow">proofreading-services.org/</a>. I will be waiting for the next story!<br />sanchesginger@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06446310511035803787noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-47368047217726292882016-07-25T13:25:01.483+03:002016-07-25T13:25:01.483+03:00There are some extreme and unlikely circumstances ...There are some extreme and unlikely circumstances where being obese is clearly an advantage. If you are stabbed, if you fall into icy water, or simply if you are cut-off with minimal food for an extended period. Thankfully, in modern societies these things apply fairly rarely.<br /><br />You can see why, when our lives were generally short and hard and typically ended suddenly, laying down significant body fat was an advantage. These days, where lives are longer and diabetes or cardiac problems are more likely to feature, the balance has clearly swung the other way.<br /><br />I would be interested to know Doc': Have you found that car-crash victims are helped or hindered by visceral fat? I have read that various impacts apply to a crash victim, such as the body "hitting" the limit of the seat-belt etc. One of these "impacts" is that of the organs hitting the inside of the rib-cage and this can be significant in a well-restrained body (the un restrained one already having punctured the windscreen at that point). I wonder whether visceral fat might actually help to reduce the organ damage to a belted victim from a head-on.<br /><br />UgiUgihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00453326095140897474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-33725914165359616972016-07-23T11:58:06.416+03:002016-07-23T11:58:06.416+03:00I saw a very, very similar case when I was shadowi...I saw a very, very similar case when I was shadowing a surgeon. In this case, the patient absolutely would have died if she hadn't been obese. She'd been stabbed with a 10cm blade by her ex-boyfriend, and the blade had pierced her abdominal cavity in seven places, but it hadn't been able to reach her intestines. Had she not had that wall of fat, the likelihood that the blade wouldn't have punctured her gut was very, very slim.Kitrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12794922199516413344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-34140556766232471492016-07-20T20:12:30.253+03:002016-07-20T20:12:30.253+03:00Thank you Ken! This easily could have turned into ...Thank you Ken! This easily could have turned into a forum for fat shaming, but it's been respectful and your PSA was very appropriate and spot-on.Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11071826737533792395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-86272006219165727842016-07-19T18:11:39.065+03:002016-07-19T18:11:39.065+03:00Very true. and all of the other health problems ca...Very true. and all of the other health problems can be very bad.<br /><br />but it bears mentioning that a person who has a significant weight issue usually cannot just make a few changes and have the issue go away; and "fat shaming" does nothing to help them. most morbidly obese people would love to have real help.<br /><br />[/PSA]Ken Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15166383392696452631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-58527495592462942222016-07-19T05:53:20.210+03:002016-07-19T05:53:20.210+03:00Let's hope that Liam, being a young man, won&#...Let's hope that Liam, being a young man, won't use this good fortune as an excuse to *not* address his weight issues before he starts experiencing *other* health problems. Scarabhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05999961861218673544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-48700143735505116222016-07-19T04:34:49.563+03:002016-07-19T04:34:49.563+03:00One of my cats had much the same experience when a...One of my cats had much the same experience when a neighborhood kid shot him: the round didn't make it through the fat. It's the only time I've been happy with his weight.K.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-31662711558373774962016-07-19T03:07:18.630+03:002016-07-19T03:07:18.630+03:00So this is one time that being fat was a good thin...So this is one time that being fat was a good thing. Too bad it doesn't outweigh all of the reasons it is bad.Grandma Skepticnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1809371631407381115.post-67047583997019770122016-07-18T19:14:33.791+03:002016-07-18T19:14:33.791+03:00very fortunate for him. and I'm guessing the ...very fortunate for him. and I'm guessing the diminished breath sounds could have been positional.Ken Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15166383392696452631noreply@blogger.com