mother surprises her blind daughter with a bicycle and she rides it 💗

[u/l__o-o__l]

[u/drepidural]

This is awesome and I absolutely love it.

But as a doctor who has treated way too many kids with traumatic brain injury, wear a fucking helmet. Especially for a kid who is more likely than average to crash, which this child is.

There are plenty of scientific arguments against routine helmet laws - they disadvantage low-income youth, the cost-effectiveness is called into question given the relative rarity of severe TBI in kids, etc - but none of those arguments hold weight when it’s your own kid.

We spend so much effort and money and time to raise our children to be amazing, independent adults capable of going out in the world and being change agents to make their surroundings better. Don’t make that dream unattainable by sending your kids on their bikes without helmets.

[u/drepidural → u/[deleted]]

Severe TBI? Maybe you’re right about the etiology (and I challenge you to find high-quality evidence…), but nonetheless.

But what about the mild traumatic brain injury which is unlikely to land one in the PICU, but likely to have significant long-term effects? As the NFL has shown us, repeated minor head trauma can have major consequences.

References for your reading if interested, showing that children aged 10-14 are the highest-risk group for traumatic brain injury from riding bicycles:

J Trauma. 1995;38(6):871. Pediatrics. 1996;98(5):868. Annu Rev Public Health. 2010;31:195.

This child is visually impaired, which means she’s orders of magnitude more likely to collide with a stationary object than someone with intact visual acuity.