Talk:Lightning injury

Comments
Is there any evidence that lightning strikes cause myocardial infarction? Tannim101 (talk) 13:36, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Why are references 4-6 repetitions? 137.205.157.30 (talk) 14:29, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

RM

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: page moved. But just to clarify, it's not a merge. The target was a simple redirect with no other page history and no talk page. Andrewa (talk) 19:56, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Keraunomedicine → Lightning injuries – Because it is correct medical term as per this Abhi (talk) 21:46, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Support. Thanks for proposing this merge. LT90001 (talk) 01:56, 22 September 2013 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Glitch
There was a temporary problem with this move, somehow I moved it twice and was unsure as to how to restore... it was easy as it turned out, but that's why there are several extra edits in the article history. All fixed now I think. Moral: Be more careful when an unexpected "delete and move" box turns up. Andrewa (talk) 20:24, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Chris Andrews and keraunomedicine
See http://www.lawyersandjudges.com/contributorinfo.cfm?ContribID=1621 for a bio of Dr Andrews. Note that he has been awarded the Kitagawa Medal for contributions to the area of keraunomedicine.

See http://icae.jp/newsletters/2003fall/research-activity.html and scroll or search. The Kitagawa Medal was first awarded in 2003 to Dr Nobu Kitagawa and is awarded by the International Commission on Atmosperic Electricity to one who has contributed greatly to Keraunomedicine over many years (my emphasis).

IMO the concern about promoting a neologism was an overreaction. And either way, we probably need to fix some of the redlinks above. Andrewa (talk) 22:27, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Links
The link to Chris Andrews' work that was already in the article is busted, and looks like it's just mispelled but I haven't time to follow up right now. I've provided a better reference anyway.

Other useful links: and more to follow when I have time. Andrewa (talk) 22:23, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
 * http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/users/holle/public_html/phx6.html
 * http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/users/holle/public_html/MedbyYear.html
 * http://www.stanthonyhosp.org/documents/Lightning%20Data%20Center%20Minutes/1995%2007.pdf
 * http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/10012964665&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Kitagawa%2BMedal%2522%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D667
 * http://icae.jp/newsletters/2003fall/research-activity.html (that's already in the discussion above)

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Queen’s University Student Editing Initiative
Hello, we are a group of medical student’s from Queen’s University. We are working to improve this article over the next two weeks and will posting our planned changes on this talk page. We look forward to working with the existing Wikipedia medical editing community to improve this article and share evidence. We welcome feedback and suggestions as we learn to edit. Thank you. XCAC111 (talk) 20:26, 11 November 2019 (UTC)XCAC111

Queen’s University Student Editing Initiative Proposed Changes
Hello, we are a group of medical students editing this page as part of our class assignment. We have compiled a list of suggestions to improve this article and would appreciate community feedback before we proceed with these edits. Here is a list of our suggestions:

In the “introduction” section, we plan on adding 1-2 sentences to give more context to lightning injuries. We plan on explaining how much current is stored in lightning, which flows quickly over a short period of time.
 * Great! Thanks for sharing this. Can you please add in your two new sentences and include the reference(s) to support these improvements? JenOttawa (talk) 13:48, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

To the “health effect section”, we plan on removing the irrelevant information. The sentence about lightning being “hotter than the surface of the sun”, as well as the example given about the destruction of a basement insulator will be removed. We will add a sentence about how lightning injuries usually do not damage the surface of the skin, due to the brief duration of exposure.


 * See message above. Please include your exact sentences and reference so we can help before it goes live on Wikipedia.JenOttawa (talk) 13:48, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

To the Treatment section we will change the add the following: The mortality rate for lightning strike is approximately 10%. Survivors of lightning strike may suffer long term injury or disability.

To the Signs and Symptoms section we will add a few more symptoms to the Signs and Symptoms section, specifically adding "burns", "functional and behavioral changes", and "vision loss". We will also be adding al description on keraunoparalysis, another common sign/symptom of lightning injury. We will be adding information on keraunoparalysis as follows, “Lightning injury can also induce a transient paralysis known as keraunoparalysis.Signs and symptoms of keraunoparalysis include lack of pulse, pallor or cyanosis, and motor and sensory loss in the extremities. However, keraunoparalysis usually resolves within a few hours. ”

We will be removing the sentence “A bolt of lightning can reach temperatures approaching 28,000° Celsius (50,000° Fahrenheit) in a split second. This is about five times hotter than the surface of the sun.”
 * Why do you feel that this should be removed? Was there a reference to support this? JenOttawa (talk) 13:48, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

We will be changing, “ Lightning burns are a skin condition, a type of electrical burn following a lightning strike. They are characterized by a unique pattern of skin lesions. Alternative names for them include "keraunographic markings", "feathering", "ferning", "Lichtenberg figures", "lightning flowers" or "lightning trees". The sentence will be changed to “Lighting burns result from energy caused by lightning strikes, and are characterized by a unique pattern of skin lesions. These tree-like lesions resemble feathering or ferning, and are also called “Lichtenberg figures.”??

We will update and improve the "Prevention" section of our Wikipedia page. We will change "Prevention includes avoiding being outdoors during a thunderstorm" to "Preventing lightning injury includes avoiding being outdoors during a thunderstorm". Following that sentence, we will add a sentence to expand on the prevention instructions about avoiding the outdoors, " While no place is entirely safe from lightning strikes, seeking a substantial shelter or an all-metal car with closed windows and doors is recommended.” We will update “If avoiding being outdoors is unavoidable, crouching low is recommended” to “If being outside is unavoidable, staying away from metal objects, tall structures, and open, exposed areas is strongly suggested. When there is risk of imminent lightning strike, crouching low with one’s knees and feet together can be used, however this is typically used as a last resort since this position can be difficult to maintain for an extended period of time.” We will also add in a sentence detailing prevention of mass casualties for lightning strikes in groups as follows, “For large groups of people, it is recommended that individuals spread out to avoid mass casualties.”
 * Please add this reference with the citation tool when editing on Wikipedia (the exercise we did in our sandboxes on Nov 11 in class). I noticed that this is also very outdated (10 years old). There are cases where this is necessary (there is no recent evidence), do you mind explaining here? Thank you! JenOttawa (talk) 13:48, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

In the Mechanisms of Injury section, we plan on adding 1 sentence on the mechanisms of lightning injury. The proposed sentence is as follows, “Lightning can strike or injure humans in four different ways: direct strikes, side splash, contact injury, and ground current.” We plan on explaining the various mechanisms of injury and how they may affect someone as they will all have different effects.

Also in the Mechanisms of Injury section, we will remove the section discussing the resistance of the earth and the composition of the earth. The section is as follows; “round strike near the person causing a difference of potential in the ground itself (due to resistance to current in the Earth), amounting to several thousand volts per foot, depending upon the composition of the earth that makes up the ground at that location (sand being a fair insulator and wet, salty and spongy earth being more conductive).” In addition, we plan on removing the section describing the different types of lightning strikes as they do not currently have any citations. We will remove the following section, “In a direct hit, the electrical charge strikes the person first. Splash hits occur when lightning jumps to a person (lower resistance path) from a nearby object that has more resistance, striking the person on its way to the ground. In ground strikes, the bolt lands near the person and is conducted by a connection to the ground (usually the feet), due to the voltage gradient in the earth. This can still cause substantial injury.” Appropriate definitions of each type of strike will be added (1-2 sentences total) and cited according to our references.
 * Please include the references here on the talk page before editing the article. This will allow us to help you! JenOttawa (talk) 13:48, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

We will update the descriptions of the different types of lightning strikes with the following descriptions that will be cited to an appropriate and reliable reference (see below):

"Direct strike: lightning directly hits the person"

"Orifice entry: may occur if lightning strike occurs near the head entering eyes, ears and mouth to flow internally"

"Side splash: lightning jumps from the location of primary strike to a nearby person"

"Contact injury: injury that occurs when a person is touching an object on the pathway of lightning"

"Ground current: lightning strikes nearby and the current travels through the ground to the person"

XCAC111 (talk) 03:58, 19 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks for including your regerence for the descriptions of different types of lightning strikes. Please add it using the citation tool (paste in your PMID/ISBN). That is great that you included page #s for this text book this is very helpful for Wikipedians.JenOttawa (talk) 13:48, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

TOFIX
"Although the current flow occurs over a short period, the amount of current is approximately 30 million volts)."

Current is, of course, measured in amps, not volts. Not sure about the value either. Don't have time to find a reliable source right now. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.136.113.165 (talk) 19:15, 9 February 2020 (UTC)

A practice guideline
Broadly (from 2014) per WP:MEDRS:

86.144.125.229 (talk) 13:23, 17 February 2021 (UTC)

Isn't lightning static electricity?
The section Pathophysiology contains this sentence:

"Lightning is neither a DC or an AC current but best described as a unidirectional massive current impulse of electrons."

If I am correct that lightning is a spark of static electricity, then wouldn't it be worth mentioning instead of, or at least in addition to, the "unidirectional massive current impulse of electrons" (which is somewhat difficult to digest)???

And if it is "unidirectional", then shouldn't the article state '''in which direction it is unidirectional???

That is: Does lightning move downward from the sky, or upward from the ground? 2601:200:C000:1A0:4D1A:3955:1FE4:D54 (talk) 09:57, 1 September 2021 (UTC)