SAM Magazine-New York, June 11, 2008-According to a new study on injuries and recreational sports, more snowboarders are sent to the emergency room than participants in any other sport. The study, headed by researchers associated with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was reported in the journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. The study is the first to look at injuries from all activities, instead of individual sports or geographic areas.

Researchers examined data from nonfatal injuries from outdoor activities treated at 63 hospitals in 2004 and 2005. They calculated that almost 213,000 people annually were treated for such injuries nationwide. About half of those injured are young, between ages 10 and 24, and half of the injuries are caused by falls. The most common problems were broken bones and sprains, accounting for half of all cases. About 7 percent of ER visits were for concussions or other brain injuries.

Of those injured, about 109,000 (51.5 percent) were young people between the ages of 10 and 24. Males incur injuries at twice the rate as females. Researchers found that snowboarding (25.5 percent), sledding (10.8 percent), and hiking (6.3 percent) were associated with the highest percentage of injuries requiring emergency department visits. Oddly, skiing accounted for less than two percent of emergency visits at the hospitals in the study.

For both men and women of all ages, the most common injuries were fractures (27.4 percent) and sprains (23.9 percent). Of these, most injuries were to the arms or legs (52 percent) or to the head or neck (23.3 percent). Overall, 6.5 percent of outdoor injuries treated were diagnosed as traumatic brain injury (TBI).

"Participation in outdoor recreation is increasingly popular in the United States," said Arlene Greenspan, co-author of the study. "The good news is that there are ways to help stay safe while having healthy fun outdoors. For example, by wearing the appropriate helmet for snowboarding, snowmobiling, sledding and rock climbing, you can reduce your risk of having a head injury, which could become a traumatic brain injury. Helmets are one piece of equipment that can have a critical, positive impact." \