Injuries in recreational curling include head injuries and may be prevented by using proper footwear.
BACKGROUND
Our study examines a recreational curling population to describe patterns of injury occurrence, estimate risk of injury and to gauge attitudes towards equipment-based prevention strategies.


METHODS
In a retrospective case series, we queried the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP), a national injury surveillance database, for curling injuries entered between 1993 and 2011. Kingston General Hospital and Hotel Dieu Hospital provide the two Kingston, Ontario, sites for emergency department (ED) care and participate in CHIRPP. Each retrieved entry underwent a chart review. A secondary survey was mailed to select individuals who had experienced curling injuries to solicit details on their injury and attitudes towards equipment to prevent injury. We used descriptive statistics for rates and proportions.


RESULTS
Over 90% of acute curling injuries resulted from a fall, and 31.7% were head impacts. We found that acute injuries requiring ED presentation occur at a rate of approximately 0.17 per 1000 athlete-exposures (95% CI: 0.12-0.22). The secondary survey was completed by 54% of potential respondents. Of survey respondents, 41.3% attributed their fall to a lack of proper footwear and 73.5% of respondents agreed with mandatory sport-specific footwear as a prevention strategy, but only 8% agreed with mandatory helmet wear.


CONCLUSIONS
Although curling injuries requiring medical care are not common, head injuries make up a large proportion. Mandated use of appropriate footwear appears to be the most effective prevention strategy, as well as the measure deemed most acceptable by players.
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.
D K
DK
Ting
Kingston General Hospital Clinical Research Centre, Department of Emergency Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
R J
RJ
Brison
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004638:Emergency Treatment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006260:Head Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods; D012775:Shoes / Q000592:standards*; D013177:Sports
athletic injury; brain concussion; curling; emergency medicine; injury prevention