Tripped Up
I came across this article and thought it was rather interesting. It’s a study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to determine how many Americans end up at the ER due to a fall caused by their pet or pet related items.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that an average of 86,629 Americans visit the emergency room each year after a fall caused by pets or their paraphernalia.
That’s the equivalent of 240 ER trips a day, and roughly 1 percent of the 8 million visits for falls of all sorts.
About one-third of the falls broke bones, about one-quarter caused bruises, one-fifth caused sprains and a little more than one-tenth caused cuts. About 62 percent of the dog-related falls and 86 percent of the tumbles involving cats occurred at home.
It turns out dogs cause more of the falls than cats, 88% vs 12%. While children 14 and under record the most injuries it’s seniors 75 and up that have the highest rate of injury. Also, it isn’t known exactly how most of the falls happened but they have been broken down into a few categories.
About one-quarter of the dog-related falls occurred during walks, about 3 percent while running away from a dog and one-half of 1 percent while breaking up a fight. In one-third of the falls, a person tripped over the dog. Being pulled by the animal caused a fifth of the falls.
Due to the high amount of injuries occurring during walks the CDC recommends making sure you know how your pet will behave when outside. Obedience school is something they strongly encourage, as well as making sure indoor rooms are well lit to prevent tripping over anything on the floor.
* Pictured above is Trip, he’s deaf and knows hand signals. What a smart boy!
this past January my grandma was pulled down an icy hill by her 90 lbs lab Molly.She ended up braking her leg in the fall. Poor granny
Its funny, in a way, that people can end up at the er just from their dog!
I’m just *waiting* for something like this to happen since I bikejor…I’ve only had one minor crash so far but I’m more worried about running my dog over then me getting hurt bol!
Wow! That’s a staggering number, but I can totally believe it. Our dogs leave their toys lying all over the house and just yesterday I nearly tripped over a rope toy that was half-stuck under the couch.
I guess I’ll be more careful – I don’t want one of those statistics to be me!