Subdural hematoma in a teenager related to roller-coaster ride

Reports about neurological injury related to roller-coaster rides mostly involve adults; we present a case of subdural hematoma in a pediatric patient presented 14 days after a roller-coaster ride. These rides show extreme up-and-down, to-and-fro, and rotatory acceleration/deceleration forces that could produce tensile and shearing stresses with tearing of bridging cerebral veins resulting in subdural hemorrhage. Pediatricians should consider roller-coaster riding a modern cause of subdural hematoma, as well as a possible cause of unexplained neurologic events in otherwise healthy adolescents. (C) 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of European Paediatric Neurology Society.