I am a nurse working in head injury
research. Someone mentioned that they didn't know the statistics for
equestrian related head
injuries. Well, I
have a few sources here and will provide some of them for you.
Sports Medicine 9(1):36-47, 1009
Synopsis: The most
common location of horse-related injuries is:
-
upper extremity 24-61% (reported in different studies)
-
lower extremity 36-40%
-
head and face 20%
The most common type of injury is:
-
soft tissue injury 92%
-
fractures 57%
-
concussion 15%
The most frequent consequence of injury is:
-
hospitalization 5%
-
residual impairment 2% (i.e. seizures, paralysis, cognitive
impairments, etc)
-
death 1%
JAMA, April 10, 1996, vol 275, no 14, p. 1072
Synopsis: During
1992-93 in Oklahoma, horseback riding was the leading cause of sports-related
head injury, (109 of 9409 injuries or 1.2% associated with riding and 23 additional
injuries attributable to horses) Of the
109, there were 3 deaths (3%). The injury
statistics were:
-
males 55, female 54
-
age range 3 yr to 71 yrs, median 30 yrs
-
most commonly seen in spring and summer
-
48% occurred on Saturday or Sunday
-
95% involved riders who struck their heads on the
ground or a nearby object after falling from the horse
-
4% were kicked or rolled on after falling from the
horse
-
1% hit head on a pole while riding and fell to the
ground
-
90% were associated with recreational activities
-
10% were work-related
-
107 were hospitalized with a median LOS of 2 days
-
79% had one or more indicators of a severe brain
injury, including
1.
loss of consciousness 63%
2.
posttraumatic amnesia 46%
3.
persistent neurologic sequelae 13% (seizures, cognitive/vision/speech deficits,
motor impairment)
Among the 23 injuries not riding related, 21 (91%) resulted from
a direct kick to the head by the horse, where 1 died immediately
and 2 required CPR. 13 of these injuries
occurred in children less that 13 yrs old.
Journal of Trauma 1997 July; 43(1):97-99
Synopsis: Thirty
million Americans ride horses and 50,000 are treated
in Emergency Departments annually. Neurologic injuries constitute the majority of severe
injuries and fatalities. A prospective
study of all patients admitted to the University of
Kentucky Medical Center with equine-related trauma
from July 1992 - January 1996
showed the following:
-
18 of 30 (60%) patients were male
-
11 (37%) were professional riders
-
24 (80%) were head injuries and 9 (30%) were spinal injuries
(4 with both)
-
age ranged from
-
5 patients died (17%)
-
2 suffered permanent paralysis (7)
-
60% were caused by "ejection or fall from
horse"
-
40% were kicked by the horse, with 4 of these
sustaining crush injuries
-
6 patients (20%) required craniotomy (i.e. brain
surgery)
-
24 patients (80%) were
not wearing helmets, including all fatalities and craniotomy patients
"Experience is not protective; helmets are."
This last line is a direct quote from this article. I hope you find these
statistics helpful.
Emmy R. Miller, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurosurgery
mailto: emmy.r.miller@UTH.TMC.EDU
(713)500-6145
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