Bikes & Broken Bones

 

Although the number of children in the U.S. who suffer bone fractures while riding a bicycle has declined steadily over the last two decades, a recent study suggests there is more work to do to teach road safety and promote the use of bike helmets:

More than one million U.S. children fractured a bone while riding a bicycle over the past 20 years, and most of them were boys between ages 10 to 15 years old, according to research presented during the 2022 American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition.

Authors of the abstract […] found that, despite efforts to make roads more bike-friendly, over 65,000 injuries occurred in an accident involving a motor vehicle. About 85% of children who sustained a skull fracture while riding bicycles were not wearing helmets.

 

The researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia noticed certain trends, with one group in particular at higher risk for fractures and other serious injuries: 10-to-15-year-old boys.

Fractures were most common in patients who were male (71.8 percent), White (53.0 percent), and ages 10 to 12 years (30.6 percent) or 13 to 15 years (24.8 percent). Temporally, fractures were most commonly seen in the spring (34.2 percent) or summer (37.8 percent). The lower arm (25.2 percent), wrist (21.2 percent), and shoulder (10.5 percent) were the most common fracture locations. Fractures from accidents involving a motor vehicle were more likely to result in hospital admission (27.1 percent) versus fractures without the involvement of a motor vehicle (6.7 percent). Only a small minority of patients with skull fractures were wearing helmets (14.2 percent).

 

In addition to urging everyone to wear bike helmets when they ride, the authors advise communities “to evaluate traffic patterns on their local roads to improve bike safety for children.”

Learn the “Bike Rules For The Road” on The PediaBlog here and about bike helmets being essential gear here.

Tomorrow on The PediaBlog, we’ll examine the dramatic rise of injuries from scooter accidents in children.

 

(Google Images)

 

source https://www.thepediablog.com/2023/03/07/bikes-broken-bones/