The 4 Most Common Holiday Injuries

Tis’ the season for family dinners, tree decorating, family sports, and the dreaded holiday injuries. In a season packed with so many joyous events and family activities, it’s not the most festive thing to think about injury prevention, but holiday injuries are more common than you’d think! We’ve compiled the most frequently treated holiday injuries, to hopefully make you all more aware of preventing them from happening to you!

Holiday-related Falls

We know there’s some pretty steep competition on your block for holiday lights, but decorate safely! Many of the holiday related falls happen when decorating. From tree decorating on step-stool ladders, or unsteady dining room chairs, to decorating the outside of the house on a ladder without a spotter, be careful! Combining these already dangerous conditions with things such as cold weather and slippery ice, are never good. Always have someone to help you and please don’t do any Santa-like house climbing if it is wet and icy. We’d love to have you as a physical therapy patient, but not under these conditions!

Electrical Shocks

During the holiday season there are lights just about everywhere. Inside the house, outside the house, on our bodies, ConEdison sure loves it. But holiday lights with exposed wires, broken bulbs, overloaded power surges or faulty wiring can be extremely dangerous. Not only can you get electrical shocks that can cause damage, but these lighting dangers can potentially spark a fire.

Choking

Holidays are typically associated with some type of holiday meal, or many. During said holiday meals, there is usually some delicious food and possibly wine or alcohol to accompany it. Trips to the emergency room for choking incidents during the holidays are very common and happen when you get overzealous with your eating, or are having such a great time chatting it up, sipping on wine and eating that accidents happen. Take your time, enjoy your food, and keep an eye on your alcohol intake.

Sports Accidents

If you are part of a family that promotes friendly competition, the Christmas Day football game, or other sports game, might be familiar to you. We’re not saying don’t partake, but be careful! At family gatherings you may not feel the need to do a pre-game warm up exercise, or warn Uncle Tony about your killer left throw, but you should! It’s all too common for someone to walk out of a friendly family game with a pulled muscle or broken bone.

So after reading this, we hope you have a wonderful holiday with your friends, family and loved ones, but think a bit more about these common injuries and avoid them this year!

Happy holidays, from Sarrica Physical Therapy & Wellness.