Can A Child Die From Falling Off A Couch Or Out Of Bed?
Forces acting on the head that result in movement of the brain in a straight line in relation to its center of gravity (translational movement) have minimal effect on the brain except for those resulting from focal contact. Contact forces may result in scalp bruises, skull fractures, epidural hemorrhage, and focal subdural hemorrhage. In very rare incidences of trivial home falls from short distances, contact forces may produce a fatal head injury in a young child by producing a space occupying lesion from an epidural hemorrhage or subdural hemorrhage. In these rare cases, the child may not immediately rendered unconscious but gradually becomes symptomatic from increasing intracranial pressure. Because the brain is confined within the skull, only a limited amount of space is available for the brain plus the blood and the spinal fluid to occupy. Traumatically created bleeding in the epidural or subdural spaces encroaches upon the space occupied by the brain and its fluids and devastatin
