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; […]

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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, […]

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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 […]

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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. […]

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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, […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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