By: Robert L. Shepherd MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, President & CEO, MediVisuals Inc.® Fractures can result in several long term or permanent complications that can necessitate additional surgical procedures. One of the most common long term debilitating complications is traumatic arthritis.Traumatic arthritis can affect almost any moveable joint in the body. To explain traumatic arthritis…

By: Robert Shepherd MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, President & CEO, MediVisuals Inc.® The surgical trauma that a plaintiff has to undergo after the initial bodily injuries following a traumatic event are always major points of emphasis when arguing damages in a personal injury case. This is certainly the situation with cases that involve broken bones…

By: Robert Shepherd MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, President & CEO, MediVisuals Inc.® Individuals who develop new or suddenly worsening symptoms consistent with nerve root or spinal cord impingement following a traumatic event are sometimes diagnosed with “disc-osteophyte complexes”. The term “disc-osteophyte complex” generally refers to abnormal extension of intervertebral disc material that accompanies immediately adjacent…

By: Robert L. Shepherd MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, President & CEO, MediVisuals Inc.® Several long term or permanent complications may result from a fracture injury. Traumatic arthritis may be one of the most common long term debilitating complications. (See the previously posted article “Breaking Down Traumatic Arthritis” for more information.) These complications may even require…

By: Robert Shepherd MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, President & CEO, MediVisuals Inc.® When developing medical demonstrative aids for demand packages, mediations, depositions, or trial, the personal injury attorney typically expresses a desire to emphasize the broken bones but may casually disregard injuries to the lungs such as pneumothorax, hemothorax, or pulmonary contusions. When a plaintiff…

By: Robert Shepherd MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, President & CEO, MediVisuals Inc.® On occasion, it is uncertain exactly which intervertebral disc may be causing a plaintiff’s pain. Physicians may conduct a discography study prior to surgery in these cases. This procedure involves advancing needles into the discs in question and injecting contrast material that serves…

By: Robert Shepherd MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, President & CEO, MediVisuals Inc.® Defense counsel, in personal injury cases involving spinal disc injuries, place a great deal of importance on the large neural structures, such as the nerve roots and spinal cord, but often times fail to appreciate the significance of the many smaller nerves around…

By: Robert Shepherd MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, President & CEO, MediVisuals Inc.® It is difficult to appreciate the subtle differences between the various types or severities of intervertebral disc injuries that result in them being defined as bulges, herniations, protrusions, extrusions, etc. The way disc pathology is defined may even vary from physician to physician—perhaps…

By: Robert L. Shepherd, MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, President & CEO, MediVisuals Inc.® In simple terms, traditional MRIs are far less able to image many brain injuries because they cannot detect physical injuries smaller than the head of a pin. Since the head of a pin is large enough for tens of thousands of axons to travel…

By: Robert L. Shepherd, MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, President & CEO, MediVisuals Inc.® One of the key issues to be understood and explained in “mild” Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) is just how delicate and fragile axons truly are.  The fact that tens of thousands of axons can travel though an area of the brain the size of the…