For mother of three Joan Mescall of
Massapequa, frequent trips to the playground
are part of the family’s regular
routine. However, Mrs. Mescall’s idea
of safety on the playground quickly
changed last spring when her youngest
son Gavin, then 14 months old, sustained
a broken leg while riding down
the slide on his big brother’s lap.
“Gavin was an early walker but I
was worried that he’d fall off the slide,
so I’d allow him to go down on his big
brother’s lap – thinking that this was
the safest way,” recalls Mrs. Mescall.
“But what I thought was a means of
protecting him, actually ended up
hurting him.”
Gavin was seen by John T. Gaffney,
DO, a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at
Winthrop-University Hospital and clinical
professor at Stony Brook University
School of Medicine. Dr. Gaffney treated
Gavin for a fractured tibia – the major
bone in the lower leg, also known as
the shinbone. Ironically, Gavin was the
seventh toddler that Dr. Gaffney treated
that spring for a tibia fracture that
resulted from going down the slide on
another person’s lap.
Committed to preventing injuries,
not just treating them, Dr. Gaffney
began to examine the relationship
between young patients who sustained
tibia fractures on a playground slide and
the mechanism of injury. He gathered
medical records of all of the patients
who he treated for fractured shinbones
over the preceding 11 months.
Dr. Gaffney discovered that of the
58 fractures he treated, 13 were sustained
on slides. What’s more, all of
the slide-related injuries were found
in patients 14 to 32 months of age
and occurred while the toddler was
riding on the lap of an adult or older
sibling. The results of Dr. Gaffney’s
study were recently published in the
Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics.
“While it is common practice for
parents to think it is safer to place a
young child on their lap and go down the
slide together, it can lead to unexpected
injury,” said Dr. Gaffney. “A young child
may move while going down the slide
and place his or her leg in a position
where it becomes stuck between the
slide and the parent’s leg, while both the
adult and child continue moving down
the slide. The child’s leg becomes twisted,
creating a torque that can lead to a
fracture in the lower extremity.”
“Parents of the patients in this
study,” who often reported a crack or
popping sound at the time of the incident
followed by severe pain for the
child, “were dismayed at the lack of
public awareness that such a common
practice could lead to a serious injury
in their child,” added Dr. Gaffney.
Mrs. Mescall was one of those
parents. “I read parenting magazines
all the time and I’ve never heard about
the dangers associated with a young
child going down the slide on an adult’s
lap,” she said.
While the results of Dr. Gaffney’s
study may be surprising to some parents,
Mrs. Mescall is grateful that
Dr. Gaffney is passionate about the
subject and wants to spread the word
to parents about how to prevent
injuries on the playground.
“As a parent, you are always trying
to protect your children. It’s comforting
to know that Dr. Gaffney really listens
to parents’ concerns and took the
time to look for connections in order
to help them,” said Mrs. Mescall.
While playgrounds will continue
to be a source of fun for parents and
children alike, Dr. Gaffney cautions
parents to consider alternate activities
when necessary.
“If the child is too small to use the
slide independently, another activity
would be more appropriate,” he said.
For more information about
pediatric orthopaedic services at
Winthrop, call 1-866-WINTHROP.
|
Vol. 19, No. 3
Fall 2009
Back to Publications
|
