Six Most Common Summer Injuries and How to Prevent Them
As warmer weather and summer approaches, we tend to get more active while having fun outside. While time outside is essential throughout the summer, awareness of hazards is crucial because activity-related injuries are more common. Learn how to avoid these six frequent activity-related injuries to avoid going to the ER this season and in the future.
Types of Summer Injuries
There are several forms of injuries that can occur throughout the summer. Here are a handful of such injuries:
- Water-related injuries: Swimming, boating, and other water hobbies may become deadly. Ensure an adult is always in charge of watching over kids while they are near water. Stay within arm’s reach of your children. At the same time, in or near water, avoid running near pools or on other wet surfaces, avoid diving in shallow water or unsure of the depth, and wear a life jacket when you’re in open water, especially if you are not a strong swimmer.
- Playground injuries: It can be harder to keep your small ones entertained now that school is out for the year. Even while it’s great to get kids outside and keep them active, over 200,000 kids need emergency room care each year due to accidents sustained on playgrounds. Fractures, sprains, and even concussions can occur when a child falls off playground equipment.
- Overextending the muscles: To prevent common overuse injuries like strains, sprains, and stress fractures in your elbows, knees, and shoulders, try to ease back into hobbies like gardening, swimming, and other sports if you or your child haven’t been particularly active during the colder months. You might anticipate a recovery period of a few weeks to nine months, depending on the severity of your injuries.
- Trampoline injuries: Every year, 100,000 kids suffer injuries from trampolines, including fractures and concussions. If you want to play on a trampoline, you can avoid injury even if these accidents aren’t entirely preventable.
- Bike, scooter, and skating injuries: Injuries from cycling, scootering, and skating happen much too frequently, whether on the sidewalk, at a skate park, while mountain riding, or even in your driveway. Wear a helmet that can prevent otherwise serious head injuries after a collision and knee and elbow pads that can lessen harm from falls to help you proactively prevent these injuries.
- Lawnmower injuries: Each summer, several lawn mower-related injuries are treated in emergency rooms; most accidents may be avoided. Lack of awareness and inappropriate use are major causes of many mishaps. Children should never be permitted to operate or ride on a lawnmower, for instance, even if it may seem enjoyable since they might get serious injuries from falling off. Doctors advise against having your child run a lawnmower until they are at least sixteen years old.
Talking to Your Physician About Prevention and Treatment for Summer Injuries
While taking the initiative and using safety precautions is always ideal, not all injuries can be prevented. Suppose you sustain a physical injury and need medical attention this summer. In that case, Conroe Family Doctor’s experts are ready to assist in your recovery and return to total health—call (936) 441-2012 for an appointment or additional information.
