Diet Cancer Risk
Skateboarding
IBM's Fast Chips
Prison Population
Indian Writers
Gay Detective
Showtime's 'Lolita'
'Diana's Bodyguard

Sports-related injuries rising among seniors

Web posted May 5, 1998

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Older Americans are increasingly winding up in hospital emergency rooms with sports-related injuries, a government report finds.

The good news is that more people 65 and older appear to be exercising; the bad news is that many are doing it wrong, said Ann Brown, chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

"This is not meant to say to people, 'Don't exercise,' '' Ms. Brown said. "Exercise -- as long as they gear the program to their abilities.''

The commission's annual surveys of more than 100 hospital emergency rooms found a 54 percent increase in sports-related injuries to older Americans from 1990 to 1996, when visits totaled 53,000.

These figures don't include people who visit their doctors' offices or treat themselves at home, said Dr. Nicholas DiNubile of Havertown, Pa., a spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Nor do they include diseases that the stress of exercise can unmask, including heart conditions, Ms. Brown said. Nonetheless, the ER visits tracked by the commission represent "a rather precipitous increase over a six-year period,'' she said.

The rise is greater than the overall rate of aging of the population. The number of people in this age group grew only 8 percent in the same period, the commission said. The injury rate for seniors also is greater than that of younger people -- injuries among people under 65 rose only 18 percent, it said.

The report also found older Americans being hurt in activities popular among the young, such as snowboarding and in-line skating.

However, Ms. Brown doubted this was a sign that older people with worn-down bodies had been caught trying to be kids again. Instead, older people probably are simply more likely than younger ones to take up healthful exercise, she said. Ms. Brown conceded that the commission survey didn't look into that.

Older people he sees seem to want to exercise, Dr. DiNubile said. "They probably are getting out more,'' he said.

Paradoxically, the riskiest categories seemed to include those that should bring the greatest health benefits -- aerobic activity and weight training. Aerobics makes the circulatory system work better and has been shown to add months to life span. Weight training makes muscles stronger, so an older person can maintain an active lifestyle.

Exercise injuries rose 173 percent, while injuries from less active pastimes such as bowling, fishing or shuffleboard showed little or no increase, the report said.

Older people should do aerobics and weight training, but they should pay more attention to doing it right, Dr. DiNubile said.

Beginning exercisers can take up walking or gardening because the health improvement that comes from quitting a sedentary lifestyle can be striking, and the risk of injury is minimal, Dr. DiNubile said. As the beginning exercisers grow into better shape, they can take up a balanced program of aerobics, weight training and flexibility, he said.

Older people should exercise common sense, the doctor said. "If you have an arthritic knee, you should not be out running,'' Dr. DiNubile said. "If you have bad bones, you should not be out on in-line skates.''

Older people who do aerobics or weight training should be sure they know and use proper technique, Ms. Brown said. They should not increase the time they spend exercising or the number of repetitions by more than 10 percent in one week, she said. And they should wear safety equipment.

This is especially true for bicyclists and in-line skaters, who should wear helmets, Ms. Brown said.

At the news conference where the data were presented, Ms. Brown and Dr. DiNubile were joined by an in-line skater who had not worn a helmet, Elaine Parks of Chevy Chase, Md.

She had been skating weekly for six months when she fell and hit her head, Ms. Parks said. She was unconscious for about five minutes -- "I remember nothing else until they were putting me in the ambulance,'' she said.

After eight days in the hospital, including three in intensive care, Ms. Parks was released but required follow-up treatment for intense headaches and severe vertigo.

"I really did not feel I needed a helmet; what are the chances of falling on one's head?'' Ms. Parks said. "I can tell you now; when you fall, you have no way of knowing or controlling how you are going to fall.''