Tree stand falls: A persistent cause of neurological injury in hunting

Pierre, Clifford; Plog, Benjamin A.; Srinivasan, Vasisht; Srinivasan, Kaushik; Petraglia, Anthony L.; Huang, Jason H.

doi:10.12998/wjcc.v2.i8.345

Cited by 8 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results support recent evidence from the USA that falls, as opposed to direct injury from firearm projectiles, are the principal cause of nonfatal hunting-related injuries [ 10 , 12 ]. In this study, over almost a third of hunting-related injuries were associated with falls but not all from elevated tree stands; some injuries were sustained from falls whilst hunting in difficult terrain.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…In the USA, falls from tree stands may account for up to two-thirds of all hunting-related injuries and 8% result in permanent neurological injury or death [ 7 , 8 ]. Common causes for falls from tree stands include poor tree stand construction, loss of balance, and falling asleep in the hide [ 12 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Common orthopedic injuries due to falls from tree stands include spinal, pelvis, and extremity fractures [ 10 ]. Tree-stand falls also carry a substantial risk of high impact head injury and neurological deficit [ 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In accordance with these findings, efforts to minimize hunting-related accidents in most countries have focused on increasing the visibility of hunters by encouraging them to don “hunters' orange” and educating hunters in gun safety [ 10 ]. However, hunting injuries appear to be on the increase in the USA despite these measures, and recently attention has turned to the safety issues surrounding the use of tree stands for large game hunting [ 10 , 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

If Hunters End Up in the Emergency Room: A Retrospective Analysis of Hunting Injuries in a Swiss Emergency Department

Bestetti

Fisher

Srivastava

et al. 2015

Emergency Medicine International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim. to characterize the mechanisms, patterns, and outcomes of nonfatal hunting-related injuries in patients presenting to Bern University Hospital, Switzerland, and compare these to reports of hunting injuries worldwide. Methods. patients presenting with hunting-related injuries to the Emergency Department at Bern University hospital from 2000 to 2014 were identified by retrospectively searching the department database using the keyword “hunt.” Each case was analyzed in terms of the patient age and gender, the mechanism and pattern of injury, and management and patient follow-up. Results. 19 patients were identified. 16 were male with a mean age of 50 years (range: 16–74). Mechanisms of injury included firearm-related injuries, falls, and knife wounds. The most common patterns of injury were head injuries (7), followed by injuries to the upper (5) or lower limb (5) and trunk (2). Over half of the patients were admitted, and nine required emergency surgery. Conclusion. Nonfatal hunting accidents in Bern, Switzerland, are largely caused by firearms and falls and tend to occur in male hunters with a mean age of 50 years. The most common patterns of injury are orthopedic and head injuries, often requiring surgery. These findings are consistent with international studies of nonfatal hunting accidents.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

If Hunters End Up in the Emergency Room: A Retrospective Analysis of Hunting Injuries in a Swiss Emergency Department

Bestetti

Fisher

Srivastava

et al. 2015

Emergency Medicine International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The text expression pattern in this study was informed by suggestions and methods from other studies (8, 9), preliminary exploratory chart reviews, and clinical consensus among study investigators. As done in some previous studies (6, 16, 17), supplemental diagnostic codes indicative of an external injury caused by an accidental fall from an elevated position (i.e., E880.9, E881.0, E881.1, E882, E884.9, E929.3) were initially evaluated for possible integration into the final case-finding logic. However, preliminary chart reviews revealed that these fall codes were not commonly present, thus were not considered in our case-finding logic.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiologic trends in medically-attended tree stand fall injuries among Wisconsin deer hunters

VanWormer

Holsman

Petchenik

et al. 2016

Injury

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Tree stand falls are the most common injury to hunters in the USA, but there is limited research on the topic. This study examined the 5-year trends in incident tree stand fall injuries in rural north-central Wisconsin and described patient demographics and injury features. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on five prior hunting seasons, 2009–2013. Cases were ascertained from electronic health records via natural language processing that identified patients from the Marshfield Epidemiologic Study Area who received medical attention for a tree stand fall. Annual incidence rates were calculated using the number of hunting license holders in the target population, per administrative data from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Results There were 16,556–16,902 deer hunters in any given year, with 39 (92% male) confirmed medically-attended tree stand fall injuries in 2009–2013. Injuries mainly occurred in the lower extremities (n=23), and included two fatalities and one paralysis case. The risk of tree stand fall injuries went from 6.0 (95% CI: 3.2, 11.1) per 10,000 hunters in 2009 to 3.6 (95% CI: 1.6, 7.9) per 10,000 hunters in 2013, which was not a significant change over five years (p=0.79). Most falls occurred among archery hunters, in the evening and when descending from a tree stand. Cases were demographically similar to the general population of Wisconsin deer hunters. Conclusions The current seasonal incidence rate of tree stand fall injuries is relatively low in rural Wisconsin, but with limited signs of improvement. Continued efforts are needed to promote the long-term safety of the hunting public.

show abstract

Tree Stand–Related Injuries in Nonadmitted and Admitted Patients at a Level 2 Trauma Center in Michigan: 2015–2019

Lazzara

Ditmer

Doughty

et al. 2021

Wilderness & Environmental Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction-Tree stand-related injuries (TSRI) are more common than firearm-related injuries in hunters. Most previous studies on the topic used trauma databases that only include admitted patients. This study characterizes injury patterns found in nonadmitted and admitted TSRI patients presenting to a level 2 Michigan trauma center. TSRI prevention interventions are also discussed.Methods-Cases were obtained through a retrospective chart review of the Henry Ford Allegiance Health trauma registry and EPSi cost-accounting database from 2015 to 2019. Keywords searched included fall, hunter, tree, tree stand, treestand, ICD 9 diagnosis (E884.9_Other accidental fall from one level to another), and ICD 10 diagnosis (W14.XXXA_Fall from tree, initial encounter). We analyzed age, sex, body mass index, injury severity score, disposition, alcohol use, injuries sustained, reported height of fall, and narrative of fall.Results-Thirty-three patients were identified. Patient age was 45±13 y (mean±SD). All patients were male. Injury severity score for nonadmitted patients was 2±1 vs 13±11 in admitted patients. Thirty-three percent of cases were nonadmitted; 67% were admitted. The most common injuries sustained were spinal (33%) and lower extremity fractures (15%). The average yearly TSRI case rate was 5.73 per 10,000 hunters in the study area.Conclusions-Our study found that spinal and lower extremity fractures were the most common injuries sustained. One-third of our patients were nonadmitted and therefore not included in the Henry Ford Allegiance Health trauma registry. Some nonadmitted patients had significant injuries requiring specialist consultation, orthopedic braces, or outpatient surgery.

show abstract

Tree stand falls: A persistent cause of neurological injury in hunting

Cited by 8 publications

References 10 publications

If Hunters End Up in the Emergency Room: A Retrospective Analysis of Hunting Injuries in a Swiss Emergency Department

If Hunters End Up in the Emergency Room: A Retrospective Analysis of Hunting Injuries in a Swiss Emergency Department

Epidemiologic trends in medically-attended tree stand fall injuries among Wisconsin deer hunters

Tree Stand–Related Injuries in Nonadmitted and Admitted Patients at a Level 2 Trauma Center in Michigan: 2015–2019

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About