Injuries & Emergencies

5 Exercises to Prevent an Aching Neck
Although neck pain can be the result of stress, age or injury, it is most often associated with poor posture.

911 Basics: Responding to a Heart Attack
Chest pain could be simple indigestion or a heart attack. Knowing the warning signs of a heart attack, and knowing how to respond, could save a life. The following guidelines can help you make the right decisions and take the right steps when seconds count

A Closer Look at Bruises
Bruises are a part of life. By the time you notice a bruise, though, it's already started to heal.

A Serious Look at Fainting
Fainting is a loss of consciousness, falling down or needing to lie down, followed by spontaneous recovery. Fainting by itself is not a problem, but it could be a sign of a serious health condition.

A Strategy for Scars
To reduce scarring, keep the skin area out of the sun. Ultraviolet rays can darken your scar, making it more noticeable.

Allergies on Vacation
If you’re heading out of town, and you or your child has allergies or asthma, proper planning can help you keep sneezes, sniffles, wheezing and attacks under control.

Anatomy of a First Aid Kit
Whether you buy a first aid kit at a drug store or put one together yourself, make sure it has all the items you may need, such as medications and emergency phone numbers.

Ankle Sprains and Strains
It might not make much of a storyline on a TV medical drama, but ankle sprains are one of the most common reasons for an emergency room visit.

Appendicitis: Children and Teens
Appendicitis, an infection of the appendix, is the most common reason for a child to need emergency abdominal surgery.

Avoiding Joint Injuries
Common injuries include a twisted ankle, sprained wrist, overextended elbow and damaged knee ligaments. Fortunately, you can take steps to help prevent joint damage.

Avoiding Non-Impact Eye Injuries
You may think wearing goggles is enough to protect your eyes, but many injuries can happen to your eyes that goggles won't prevent.

Bruise Control
We bruise when blood vessels beneath our skin rupture and bleed. As alarming as these purplish marks can be, they're usually harmless. With passing years, however, they become increasingly common with the mildest bump or blow.

Child Health Emergencies
A good guideline to follow is that a medical emergency is any time your child has an injury or illness you believe threatens his or her health or may cause permanent harm.

Common First-Aid Mistakes
What should you do about a snakebite? What should you put on a burn?

Don't Take Your Eyes for Granted
The number of people losing their vision is growing, yet experts say much of this vision loss could be prevented.

Drugs Used to Treat Spinal Cord Injury

Emergency Care: When Is It the Right Choice?
You may think of the ER as a source of the most immediate medical attention, but if your situation is not a real emergency, this isn't true.

Emergency Symptoms for People Who Use Insulin
Under certain circumstances, people who take insulin can have symptoms that require immediate action and, in some cases, treatment in a hospital emergency room.

Essential Eye Protection
Most eye injuries can be prevented by wearing the proper protective eyewear.

Female Teen Athletes: At Risk for Injury?
Teen girls who are athletes face unique obstacles when it comes to their bodies and how well they perform.

Fitness Tips for Weekend Warriors
Exercise is good for you. But by doing it intermittently, you run the risk of a sports injury.

Focus on Fitness: Avoid Overtraining
With so much emphasis these days on the importance of exercise, overtraining often gets overlooked. But pushing yourself too hard or doing too much can be just as harmful as not doing enough.

For Bee Stings, Remove the Stinger
Bee stings are least painful when the stinger is removed as fast as possible -- by any means.

For Seniors: You Can Beat the Heat
After age 65, your body can't adjust to changes in air temperature -- especially heat -- as quickly as it did when you were younger. That puts you at risk for heat-related illnesses.

Heart Attacks and Women
For many women, a heart attack may feel like a strange discomfort in the back or some other easily ignored sign, instead of crushing chest pain.

How to Avoid Common Running Injuries
Knowing about common injuries and how to prevent them can keep you on track toward achieving your fitness goals.

How to Avoid Sports Injuries
Sports injury rates could be reduced by 25 percent if all athletes — professionals and amateurs — followed essential safety, conditioning, and preventive strategies.

How to Prevent Back Pain at Work
People who work in certain occupations, such as nursing, are likely to have back pain. But so can folks who work in an office every day if they don’t take proactive steps to protect their backs.

How to Recover From a Back Injury
Back pain is something you don't want to repeat. Recovering properly from a back injury and taking preventive measures can help you reduce your risk of going through it again.

How to Respond to a Medical Emergency
Taking a standard first-aid and CPR class can help prepare you for most medical emergencies. The National Safety Council, the Red Cross and many hospitals offer classes. The following suggestions can help you respond appropriately.

How to Respond to an Eye Injury
If you suffer a serious eye injury, what you don't do immediately afterward may help more than what you do.

How to Stay Out of the ER
ER doctors and technology save lives. But some people use the ER simply because it’s convenient, or they don’t want to make a doctor’s appointment.

In Case of Emergency...Be Ready for Anything
Don't wait to think about disaster until you're dealing with one. In the hurried confusion, you're likely to miss important items as you prepare your home or leave to seek shelter.

Injuries Plague Athletic Baby Boomers
As we age, our bodies change. Knee joints have less cartilage; bones become more brittle and connective tissues less pliable.

Just Do It—But Don't Overdo It
Exercise is good for you. You're probably sick of hearing that message. But did you know too much exercise can make you sick?

Knees Are Casualties of Women's Sports
Active women are at least twice as likely to suffer serious knee injuries as men, but it's not just athletes who are at risk.

Know When a Bandage Will Suffice
The first and best thing to do with a wound is wash it with soap and cool water. If it's bleeding, elevate it above the heart.

Little League Goes to Bat for Safety
Pitchers ages 10 and under can throw no more than 75 pitches a game. After that, they can't pitch until they rest for four days.

Living Wills Offer Peace of Mind
A living will tells others how you want to be treated when it comes to life-sustaining measures.

Massage Therapy for Back Pain
More than half of American adults seek medical treatment for back pain at some point in their lives.

New Options Can Fix Broken Bones
New materials and high-tech designs can make recovery a lot easier than it was when injured limbs were routinely encased in plaster and stabilized with pulleys and weights.

New Parents...Sore Backs
When it comes to parenting, back injury is an occupational hazard. New mothers, whose backs have just endured the stresses of pregnancy and birth, are particularly vulnerable. So are taller fathers and mothers who must bend farther than others to scoop up

Offsite Health Care Options
Many forms of emergency treatment take place outside the emergency room, and even many surgeries are performed in locations other than a hospital operating room.

Olympian Advice on Preventing Sports Injuries
Neither Olympians nor weekend warriors are immune to tendonitis, ankle sprains, low back problems, and knee pain.

Planning Ahead for Travel Emergencies
Whether you're headed for the beach, the outback or the big city for your summer vacation, you should add a few more items to your to-do list.

Protecting Your Child from Sports Injuries
Most children depend on recreational and school sports for exercise and fun. But too many young athletes suffer needless injuries.

Put a Stop to Nerve Injuries Called Stingers
Stingers occur when the shoulder and head go in opposite directions, the head is moved quickly to one side, or the area above the collarbone is hit.

Save That Tooth!
If your child gets a tooth knocked out, find it if you can and treat it with care. See your dentist as soon as possible.

Save Your Child From Injuries
Every day, injuries send 25,000 children to emergency rooms. Simple precautions could head off most of those trips.

Self-Treat? Or See a Doctor?
When you’re sick, knowing whether you should treat yourself at home or see your doctor can save you time and hundreds, possibly thousands, of dollars a year.

Snowboarding? Avoid Spills on the Hills
Snowboarders often break wrists and ankles because they go down hard when they crash.

Softball's Most Dangerous Move: The Slide
The best way to eliminate sliding injuries is to use bases designed to pop loose when they are struck too hard.

Soothing that Sunburn
Here's one effective remedy: Keep a bottle of moisturizing lotion in the refrigerator. If you suffer a sunburn, rub the cooling lotion on your skin. Repeat as often as needed.

Sports Injuries: When to Call the Doc
Sports injuries can be either acute traumatic, which require immediate medical care, or chronic overuse injuries.

Sports-Related Knee Injuries
Knee injuries account for 25 percent of all sports-related injuries, but proper conditioning can help prevent them.

Sprained Ankles Need Attention
When you sprain an ankle, one or more ligaments on the outside of your ankle become stretched or torn.

Sprains, Strains, Breaks: What’s the Difference?
If you've sprained your ankle, you know what pain is. But maybe that "sprain" was a "strain" or possibly even a "break." The amount of pain in each case can be virtually equal.

Taking Care of Cuts and Scrapes
Cuts and scrapes are everyday occurrences, and most can be safely treated at home. Knowing how to clean and care for a cut yourself and when to seek a doctor’s care can help reduce infection and speed healing.

Taking Care of Head Injuries
The most common causes of head injuries are auto and motorcycle accidents, falls and violent assaults.

The Best Ways to Treat, Prevent Tendinitis
Tendonitis is your body's way of telling you, "Enough! You're putting too much stress on this muscle and joint."

The New Face of Aging
Not only do baby boomers expect to live into their 80s or 90s, but they are expecting to be independent, one expert says.

Treating Minor Childhood Injuries
Scrapes and sprains are a fact of life for most children, so it’s good to know what to do when they come home with a minor injury.

Watch that Backpack Load
When your child acts as if she’s carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, maybe you should check her backpack.

Weighing the Risks, Benefits of Back Surgery
The reasons for back surgery typically vary with a patient's age.

What to Do About a Pain in the Neck
Most neck pain is caused by sleeping on a bed that’s too soft, poor posture, stress, neck strains or degenerative joint disease that occurs when the joints of the neck become inflamed or a disc pushes outward from its normal position.

What to Do if Someone Collapses
Would you know what to do if a friend or acquaintance collapsed while you were there? Knowing how to respond in such a situation is crucial to the person's recovery.

What to Do if You Get Something in Your Eye
Fight the impulse to rub furiously until the dust or dirt is gone. You might scratch your cornea or otherwise damage your eye.

What to Expect in the Emergency Room
A trip to an emergency room (ER) is something you or a loved one may never have to face. But it's wise to know something about emergency medicine in case the unexpected occurs.

What You Can Do About Dog Bites
Dogs are responsible for 85 to 90 percent of all animal bites. But, many incidents can be avoided.

What You Must Know About Suicide
In many cases of suicide or attempted suicide, undiagnosed and untreated mental illness—especially depression—is to blame.

What You Need to Know About Burn Prevention
Here are suggestions on how to prevent most types of burns.

What You Should Know About Treating Cuts
Whether it's a slip of the kitchen knife or a run-in with a nail or slice from a piece of paper, everyone suffers a cut now and then.

When Seconds Count
Medical emergencies can be frightening and confusing. But the good news is that emergency treatment often saves lives.

When to Call the Doctor for Childhood Illnesses
Many childhood illnesses are mild enough to be treated at home. But what about when the symptoms are more severe?

Winter's Cool Advice: Watch Out for Hypothermia
Anyone who doesn't dress warmly enough or gets overheated then chilled while outside risks developing hypothermia.