Kids can't fly: preventing fall injuries in children

Falls are the leading cause of unintentional injury in children. Pediatric fall injuries can be grouped into roughly 4 categories: (1) falls while walking or running, (2) falls from heights, (3) falls while participating in recreational activities, and (4) falls during competitive sports activities. Because injury statistics collected by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission are product-related, there is little data on falls from walking or running. Falling down stairs is the most common height-related fall injury, followed by playground-related falls. Bicycle-related injury leads the third category in frequency. Over 30% of parents report that their child has been injured while playing a team sport; although not all sports-related injuries are caused by falling, most result in a fall. Strategies for preventing fall injuries are based on finding risk factors that can be modified; these modifications can be pre-event, event-specific, or post-event. Office-based injury prevention counseling plays an important role in preventing pediatric fall injury.