Sledding is only a popular activity for a couple months out of the year. While it is strictly a winter activity, it still lands thousands of kids in the ER each year. This activity lands over 20,000 kids under the age of 19 in the ER each year.
There are a variety of types of accidents that land these kids into the ER. The most common type of injury was collisions (51%) followed by cuts, bruises and fractures. Over one-third of the injuries sustained were to the head. Close to half of the injuries recorded were from kids ages 10-14 and 60% of them came from boys. The good news is that less than 5% of the injuries requiring trips to the ER resulted in hospitalization.
Young people are more likely to sustain a head injury when it occurred on a street. The two biggest issues that contribute to sledding related injuries are the conditions of the environment and the location. Sledding areas should be kept free of obstacles such as trees and bushes. They should also have a large enough runoff area to prevent them from going into streets. Sledding on streets should always be avoided to eliminate the possibility of a collision with a car of other traffic.
Sledding has become a bigger problem that previously thought. With the risk of serious injury, sleds should never be pulled by a motorized vehicle for any reason. Sleds that are round in shape should be avoided due to the lack of control they give to the operator. The use of helmets may help eliminated some of the head injuries. Young children should always be supervised when using a sled.
In conclusion, I hope that what has been shared with you today will help you to avoid any type of sledding injury. If you have enjoyed this article and the others that I have written, visit our site which features hundreds of kids books.
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