O1015: Epidemiology of Injuries Occurring on Home Exercise Equipment in the Pediatric Population with Opportunities for Injury Prevention

Background: Home exercise equipment has become a staple in many homes across the United States. This addition brings with it heightened risk of injury among children exposed to this equipment. One previous report has characterized the epidemiology of children under the age five being injured on exercise equipment, and a separate study evaluated injuries occurring in all children on home exercise equipment, excluding weightlifting equipment, from 1990-2008. However, there are few updated reports analyzing a broader array of home exercise-equipment related injuries. The goal of this study was to provide an inclusive, up-to-date picture of injuries occurring on all types of home exercise equipment among children and adolescents.

Methods: The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database was queried for patients aged 0-18 presenting to NEISS-participating emergency departments from 2012-2021 for injuries involving exercise or weightlifting equipment. Exclusion criteria included: injuries occurring outside the home, injuries involving the entire body or in which body part wasn’t stated, and infections. Demographic information and details including injury mechanism and type of equipment on which the injury occurred were collected from the “Narrative” NEISS variable. Survey data estimates were calculated using jack-knife standard errors. Analysis was done using Stata 16.

Results: Between 2012 and 2021, a national estimate of 126,982 injuries involving home-exercise equipment were identified. There was a steady decline in home exercise-related injuries within this timeframe. The age groups most affected were children less than 5 years old (74.8%; 95% CI: 72.0%-77.4%) and children aged 5 to 9 (14.0%; 95% CI: 11.9%-16.4%). The most common injury types were lacerations (n=35,203; 27.7%; 95%CI: 25.4%-30.2%) and soft tissue injuries (n=37,941; 29.9 %; 95% CI: 27.6%-32.2%), and the most common body regions injured were the head, neck, and face (n=44,691; 35.1%; 95%CI: 32.5%-38.0%). Common injury mechanisms included equipment falling on children (26.5%; 95% CI: 24.3%- 28.9%), or children falling into equipment (20.3%; 95% CI: 18.6%- 21.9%). Weights (i.e. barbells, dumbbells, weight plates) and treadmills caused the most injuries at 40.6% (95%CI: 37.5%-43.7%) and 19.7% (95%CI: 18.1%-21.5%) respectively. Trends by age for mechanism of injury, injury location, and injury types were significant between age groups.

Conclusion: Home exercise equipment is abundant in U.S. homes; with this, injuries associated with this equipment among children and adolescents are of particular interest. This has been an initiative of AAP itself, having released a statement regarding the importance of childproofing home exercise equipment in May 2021. Our review found that children aged nine years and younger were at a higher risk for injuring themselves on exercise equipment at home. Weightlifting equipment was associated with greater risk of injury. With most injuries occurring because of equipment falling onto children, increased educational efforts may avert a significant number of these injuries.