Common Household Injuries and How to Prevent Them

Though we would love to think of our homes as incredibly safe, accidental injuries at home can and do happen often. If you take the right precautions, however, your home can be significantly safer for you and your family. Learn more about the most common household injuries that occur, and then learn steps you can take to prevent these common injuries from happening.

Falls

Falls are one of the most common causes of both home injuries and accidental home deaths. A variety of injuries can be caused by falls, ranging among minor scrapes, broken bones, permanent disability or death. Those most at risk for serious injury from an at-home fall are young children and the elderly. Falls can happen for any number of reasons, but there are things you can do to discourage dangerous falls in your house.

Start first with your bathroom and do what you can to make it a no-slip zone. Tubs and slick floors are especially dangerous, so you want to put down grip pads in the tub, install grab bars both in and near the tub, and make sure your floor mat is non-skid. For extra protection, you could install rougher flooring than the standard smooth tiles or linoleum most bathrooms have.

Around the rest of your home, you want to look for things like clutter, and other trip hazards. Remove clutter from the floor, and have designated spaces for items like shoes that are easy to forget about and trip over. Remove area rugs and throw rugs from your space if you can. These often have edges that flip up and create a tripping hazard. Put guard rails on your stairs if there aren?t any. If you have children, child-proof your home by blocking windows and stairs, and increase visibility for little eyes by leaving on night lights in each room and hallway.

Burns

Burns are another very common injury around the home. We most commonly encounter burns when we are cooking, but open flames, electrical shock, and even hot water are also causes. To prevent burns, it?s important to always be careful around hot surfaces, especially ovens and stoves. Always assume potentially hot surfaces are, in fact, hot until otherwise proven. Never force a plug into an outlet, and always have a certified electrician do any needed electrical work in your home. Keep pets and children away from candles and fireplace fires, and always extinguish any open flame completely. Turn your hot water heater down to around 110?F to discourage potential scalding.

Home fires are sometimes caused by unseen electrical flaws or by pests, so it is essential to keep a working smoke detector in your home at all times. Code routinely calls for a smoke detector in or just outside every bedroom. Check with your local code enforcement to find out what is required in your area. Test your smoke detector frequently. Early knowledge of a home fire is the best way to make sure you and your family are able to escape safely.

Cuts

Most cuts occur in the kitchen or dining room when we are using knives, but they can occur in other places in your home as well. The only way to avoid knife cuts is to always be careful when you are using a knife. Never look away from what you are cutting. Use proper cutting techniques, including curling your fingers away from the knife and cutting on a cutting board. Wear close-toed shoes when you will be doing any cutting, and if the knife falls, NEVER try to catch it. Supervise young children carefully around sharp objects, and keep knives and other sharp items out of reach of little hands.

Kitchi Joyce is the Director of Administrative Services for Southern Orthopaedics Specialists, a full service Atlanta orthopedic practice specializing in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine. Southern Orthopaedics Specialists has multiple locations around the Atlanta Metro area where doctors, physicians and medical staff help patients live and perform at the peak of their physical ability. Decades of experience, education and research means that all branches ofAtlanta orthopedics are covered, from cartilage restoration to spine care and sports medicine. Learn more about Atlanta orthopedics at http://www.sos-atlanta.com/services/orthopaedic/.

Source: http://toddsblogs.com/healthandfitness/2012/08/14/common-household-injuries-and-how-to-prevent-them/

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