San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge looks poised to get a safety net to prevent suicides, something that various people and organizations have been requesting for over 60 years. Since the Bridge was first opened in 1937 approximately 1,600 people have committed suicide by jumping off the bridge, more than any other location in the world. […]
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Balcony collapse – a potential (unseen?) threat to users of all ages
Unfortunately here in Australia we have had a number of collapses of the family home balcony, and last month the casualty was a 3 month old baby boy who had been cradled in his mother’s arms moments before the fateful fall (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/central-coast/death-of-baby-in-niagara-park-balcony-collapse-prompts-building-safety-warning/story-fngr8h0p-1226857651952). Such balcony collapses are by no means unique events here in Australia (e.g., http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/balcony-collapse-injures-five-people-at-nowra-in-nsw/story-e6frg6nf-1226743237328; […]
Low speed vehicle run-over incidents remain in the spotlight
PubMed abounds with articles exploring the epidemiology of low speed vehicle run-overs (e.g., doi: 10.1136/ip.2010.030304; 10.1111/jpc.12188; 10.1111/wvn.12014; 10.1136/injuryprev-2013-040932; 10.1186/1471-2458-14-245; 10.1186/1471-2458-14-245). The devastating consequences of low speed vehicle run-over incidents has led to a plethora of suggested intervention and ‘tips’ for parents and others interested in child and infant injury prevention (for example, http://www.kidsafewa.com.au/drivewaysafety.html; http://www.safekids.org.nz/index.php/page/driveway-run-over-kit-locations; http://www.keepyourchildsafe.org/child-safety-book/child-driveway-accidents.html). In addition, […]
Sharing Data Collection Instruments
In the April 2014 issue, I highlighted a new service from SAVIR and SafetyLit – a searchable repository of injury-related data collection instruments. In follow-up correspondence, Kavi Bhalla points out that the injuries group in the global burden of disease study had also compiled a collection of instruments with questions related to measuring injury incidence. Interested? You […]
When you run, does it matter what you wear on your feet?
The British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) Volume 48, Issue 5 includes several papers relating to joint stability and its relationship to musculoskeletal injury. Verrelst et al. show that hip and thorax joint stability, as measured by range of motion, can contribute to the development of tibial (shin) pain in female physical education students. Gehring et al. demonstrate that mechanical ankle instability is related to the mechanism behind ankle sprains in “close-to-injury” scenarios in a lab-based study.
But it is two papers that highlight the multidimensional nature of risk factors associated with running injuries that particularly caught my eye – especially for their discussions of footwear. […]
If coaches are to deliver sports safety programmes, they need to be taught the HOW not just the WHAT
Cross Fertilising Injury Prevention (IP) and the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) There is irrefutable evidence that injury prevention efforts will only work if the people they are intended for, such as sports participants, actually adopt them (e.g. Finch, 2006). More recently, however, it has become recognised that whether or not they do so, […]
Preventing overuse, not just acute and traumatic, injuries matters in youth sport
Cross Fertilising Injury Prevention (IP) and the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) Readers of this journal would be fully aware of international definitions of injury based on the energy-exchange causation theory proposed by early injury researchers such as Haddon. Such definitions have led much prevention research to focus on acute traumatic injuries only. In […]
Safety defects in GM cars: the role of industry and government
This is verbatim from an article in the New York Times, via Lombardo. When we think about injury prevention we must never lose sight of the major role government has to play, especially when ensuring the safety of dangerous products. One of the most dangerous, in my view, is the automobile. “What we do know […]
Physical activity promotion has nothing to gain from injury prevention! Fact or Fiction?
Cross Fertilising Injury Prevention (IP) and the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) The British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) Volume 48, Issue 3 is devoted to physical activity promotion and “Exercise as Medicine”. However, as the deliberately provocative title of this particular cross IP-BJSM Blog indicates, there is nothing in any of the papers […]
Concussion in Sport. The injury issue that will not go away
Cross Fertilising Injury Prevention (IP) and the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) Few types of sports injury have received as much attention as concussion . It’s an issue that has witnessed increasing attention in the public media, dominating several social media discussions, and also has been the subject of previous IP Blogs. So important is […]