Off-road motorcycling is a popular sports activities practiced by many children. Very little is been written on motocross accidents among children. We report all paediatric motocross accidents admitted to our paediatric orthopaedic unit from 2003 to 2005. Motocross related accidentas accounted for 6.7% of our paediatric trauma admission during this 2 year period. The majority of injuries involved the lower limb (70%) and some of these were open (30%) and complex with residual long-term neurological deficit. Clavicle fractures were seen in 20% of the cases. Head injuries were seen in 30% of the cases and were minor in nature. The majority of cases (80%) required operative management and in some cases multiple operations. In the future, strict adequate training and obligatory protective clothing especially to the highly exposed extremity prior to participation in motocross sports need to be in place to help reduce the resultant accidents. Introduction Motorcycling is a popular sport among the paediatric population in the United Kingdom. It is the fastest growing action sport of the new millennium. The combination of suspense, thrill and danger is exploding into the entertainment industry. Despite this being a high-risk sport, there is very little written on paediatric motocross accidents in the literature. In this paper, we aimed to examine all paediatric trauma related to motocross accidents presenting to our unit over a 2 year period. We aimed to identify the patterns of injuries and the resulting morbidities of these accidents. Materials & Methods We reviewed our paediatric trauma database from 2003 – 2005. All paediatric trauma cases due to motocross accidents were identified. Their notes were retrieved and the injuries sustained were identified. The treatment for these injuries was also retrieved. These patients were followed up routinely to examine the outcome and morbidity resulting from the injuries. Results During the two year period from 2003 to 2005, there were 150 paediatric trauma admissions to our orthopaedic unit. Of these, 10 (6.7%) cases were due to motocross accidents. The patterns of injuries, treatment, outcomes and complications are shown in Table 1. 8 out of 10 (89%) cases required an operation to treat the injury. The majority (70%) of the injuries involved the lower limb. 6 out of these 7 injuries involved the tibia or fibula. 30 % of the fractures were open with a grade II or III according to the Gustilo & Anderson classification. Other non-orthopaedic injuries were minor head injuries in 30% of the cases and facial fractures in one case.The most significant injuries were in a case 16 years of age coming off his motor cross bike. He sustained a complex closed displaced multi-fragmented fracture dislocation of the left distal tibial articular surface. The dorsal aspect of the foot was cold with a poor perfusion of the toes and no palpable pulses but a detectable tibialis posterior pulse on Doppler examination. After manipulation in A & E department with resultant improved alignment and application of backslap, the perfusion was much improved and all pedal pulses were palpable. The patient also sustained severe facial injuries and a closed displaced mid shaft fracture of the right humerus without a neurological compromise (Figure 1).
展开▼
