Injuries occuring in tubs and showers suprisingly high with toddlers

A new study has found that injuries caused by slips and falls in showers and tubs are sending children to the hospital at an alarming rate. 120 per day in the USA alone! Most injuries occur to children ages 4 and under.

About 60 percent of the injuries were lacerations (cuts and tears to the skin) and more than 20 percent were sprains and other soft-tissue injuries. The most commonly affected body region was the head, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the bath injuries, followed by the head and neck, which accounted for 15 percent of the injuries.

"That is because young children, the ones typically injured in bathtubs and showers, they tend to topple forward," said study team member Dr. Gary Smith, director of Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio. "They have a high center of gravity, and they tend to strike their head and their face, and that ends up with injures such as lacerations."

Overall, wounds from falls make up about 80 percent of bath-related injuries, topping those caused by scalding water or submersion in the tub, the researchers say.

Smith adds that "it is important to prevent them from happening by using a slip-resistant mat inside and outside the bath and shower." Other preventive measures he recommends include support bars for kids to hold onto when getting into and out of the tub and shower.

In most of the cases, parents were watching their children. Accidents like these can occur in the blink of an eye!

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