Background: Few studies have examined injuries resulting from practicing parkour. The current study provides details on more parkour-related emergency department visits than existed in the combined research literature.
Methods: Cross-sectional data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System were used to examine parkour-related injuries presenting to U.S. emergency departments over a seven year period.
Results: Most parkour injuries were reportedly caused by landing or from striking objects. Common diagnoses included fractures, sprains/strains, abrasions/contusions, and lacerations. More than half of reported injuries (57.7%) affected the patients' extremities. In this data, there appears to be a trend of increasing parkour injuries over time. Patients as young as 8years old have presented to emergency departments with parkour-related injuries in recent years.
Conclusions: Given the relatively severe injuries obtained by youth participants, more research is needed to guide injury prevention efforts. Understanding the nature of parkour-related injuries may help inform prevention efforts. However, more systematic monitoring of participation in parkour and related injuries is needed.
Keywords: Injury; NEISS; Recreation; Traceur.
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