Although dog walking is a common daily activity for many adults, few studies have flagged its injury burden. Therefore, the researchers looked for more comprehensive information about these types of events.
How people get hurt while walking dogs over the past 20 years
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that an estimated 422,659 adults sought treatment in U.S. emergency rooms for injuries resulting from off-leash dog walking from 2001 to 2020.
About half of all patients were adults between the ages of 40 and 64, and 75% of patients were female. Most of the injuries resulted from falls after being pulled, tangled, or trapped by a leash attached to a dog they were walking.
The three most common injuries among all adults were, in order, finger fracture, TBI, and shoulder sprain or strain. TBI and hip fracture were the two most common injuries among adults 65 and older.
The TBIs identified in this study included both concussion and internal head injury, including contusion of the brain (a bruise of the brain tissue), epidural hematoma (bleeding above the outer membrane of the brain), or subdural hematoma (a bruise of the outer membrane of the brain). Bleeding below) may be involved. ,
Specifically, women with injuries related to dog walking were 50% more likely to have fractures than men. Older dog walkers were more than three times as likely to experience a fall, more than twice as likely to have a fracture, and 60% more likely to sustain a TBI than younger dog walkers.
During the 20-year study period, the incidence of injuries from leash-dependent dog walking more than quadrupled. This trend may be due to concurrently increasing dog ownership rates and the promotion of dog walking to improve fitness.
The researchers hope that their findings will promote awareness among dog owners and encourage clinicians to discuss the potential for injury of leash-dependent dog walking with their patients.
Physicians should also be aware of these risks and communicate them to patients, especially women and older adults. Therefore, encouraging clinicians to screen pet owners, assess the risk of fractures and falls, and discuss safe dog walking practices at routine health maintenance visits.
They will also analyze cases of leash-dependent dog walking injuries among children under the age of 18. Those findings will be released soon.
Source: Eurekalert
