NEW NATIONAL STUDY FINDS MOUNTAIN BIKE-RELATED INJURIES DOWN 56 PERCENT
Thursday, February 03, 2011
A new study conducted by
researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research
Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found the number of mountain
bike-related injuries decreased 56 percent over the 14-year study period (1994
to 2007) – going from a high of more than 23,000 injuries in 1995 to just over
10,000 injuries in 2007.
“The large decline we found in
mountain bike-related injuries is likely due to a combination of factors,” said
Lara McKenzie, PhD, MA, principal investigator at the Center for Injury
Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “While some of the
decline may be explained by a decrease in the number of people riding mountain
bikes, there have also been a number of improvements to the bicycle design,
such as disc brakes and dual-suspension systems, that give the rider greater
control of the bike and may help to reduce the incidence of injuries.”
According to the study, appearing
in the February 2011 issue of the American
Journal of Sports Medicine, the most frequent diagnoses were fractures (27
percent), soft tissue injuries (24 percent) and lacerations (21 percent), while
the most commonly injured body parts were the upper extremities (27 percent),
shoulder and clavicle (20 percent) and the lower extremities (20 percent). Falls (70 percent) or being thrown off the
bike (14 percent) were the most common mechanisms of injury.
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