The majority of playground injuries, 83.9% occurred on monkey bars, swings, and slides, and the 5 most common diagnoses were fractures (39.3%), contusions/abrasions (20.6%), lacerations (16.6%), strains/sprains (9.9%), and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) (8.5%).
Boys represented (54.3%) of all injuries and girls (45.7%).
The average age was 3.5 to 9.5 years. The injuries occurred at school in 38.9%; at a recreation/sporting facility, in 35.5%; and at home, in 25.6%. Most kids were treated and released (94.4%).
The most serious injuries are tramatic brain injuries (TBI's). Swings at school are the most common mechanism of injury for TBIs, and the seasonal data would suggest that increased supervision of children using swings during school hours might reduce the occurrence of TBIs.
An interesting finding noted was: " The trend in playground equipment injury also indicates that monkey bars are problematic because the number of injuries per year per capita owing to monkey bars is stable, whereas those from swings and slides is decreasing."
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