Improvements In Treating Trauma

By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - When I talk about health, I spend most of the time speaking about medical conditions that we either have treatments for, or ways to prevent health issues associated with them. But we do not spend much time dealing with issues like trauma.

It has been estimated that fifty to ninety percent of US adults experience trauma in their lifetime. The issue with trauma is that it can affect us at any time and at any age.

When we think of leading health risks for teens and young adults it is often a form of trauma like sports injury, auto accidents or even violence.

In some cases traumatic events are purely random but common sense can help many potential problems. Some examples are wearing seatbelts, not drinking or texting while driving and car seats for babies.

On the treatment side some of the biggest developments in health care are in the area of trauma centers for those unavoidable events.