[Waveboard-related injuries. Greater protection is advised].

OBJECTIVE

Waveboarding, a type of skateboarding, is a new craze among children. The aim of this study is to describe how many children visit the emergency department as a consequence of waveboarding and the types of injury they have.

DESIGN

Retrospective, descriptive.

METHOD: All records of children aged 5 to 15 years who had visited the emergency department of the Medical Center Alkmaar in the period March to May 2010 were examined. If a case of waveboard-related injury was found then the type of injury was noted. For all of the injuries a phone call was made to try to find out if protective gear had been worn.

RESULTS

A total of 1418 records from 2010 were investigated. In 132 cases, a waveboard-related injury was found. Contusion was found in 31% of cases and a fracture in 64% of cases. The 2 most frequently occurring sites of injury were the forearm and wrist (53%) and the elbow (14%). In 3% of the waveboard-related injuries the child concerned had worn any protective gear.

CONCLUSION

Children who visited the emergency department due to waveboard-related injuries mainly had injuries to the wrists, forearm and elbow. Only 3% of the children wore protective gear when waveboarding. As effective protection against accident-related injuries exists for skaters, the wearing of protective gear during waveboarding can be expected to lead to a reduced number of injuries.