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Injuries, ill-health and fatalities in white water rafting and white water paddling

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posted on 2015-04-08, 15:11 authored by Iain S. Wilson, Hilary McDermottHilary McDermott, Fehmidah MunirFehmidah Munir, Eef HogervorstEef Hogervorst
White Water (WW) activities such as paddling (canoeing and kayaking) and rafting are popular sports for recreational and professional participants. An increase in participation has been seen worldwide. However, these activities come with a risk of injury and even death if not conducted safely. A review was conducted to identify the types of injuries and ill-health which occur as a result of these activities. Injury and fatality rates were assessed to establish the risk attributed to these activities. Web of Science, PubMed, Ergonomics Abstracts and PsycINFO databases were searched and a total of sixteen published articles were identified and reviewed. The shoulders and back were the most vulnerable sites for injury in WW paddling. Injuries to the face and lower limbs were most common in WW rafters. However, injury rates are low and estimates are discussed. Due to different methods used across the studies, the reported injury rates are not comparable. Illnesses have been reported in WW activity participants including gastrointestinal illnesses and surfer’s ear. A relative paucity of studies regarding injuries and fatalities in WW activities was identified. Directions for future research are suggested and discussed.

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

SPORTS MEDICINE

Volume

43

Issue

1

Pages

65 - 75 (11)

Citation

WILSON, I. ... et al., 2013. Injuries, ill-health and fatalities in white water rafting and white water paddling. Sports Medicine, 43 (1), pp. 65 - 75.

Publisher

© Springer International

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2013

Notes

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40279-012-0007-8.

ISSN

0112-1642

Language

  • en