Burn injuries are one of the most painful and potentially debilitating traumatic injuries that a person can suffer. Every reader is likely to have, at some point in their life, suffered a burn injury, no matter how minor and therefore can have some comprehension of the pain and suffering associated with significant burn injury. Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death and disability in children and young adults. Although much has been done to optimise pre-hospital care and emergent treatment of injuries in recent times, the mainstay of managing death and disability from traumatic injury must lie in preventing these injuries where at all possible. To enable effective preventative strategies to be put in place it is important to define the demographics of those injured and the mechanisms of injury for any given population. Only then can we ensure that strategies are targeted in the areas where they are most needed at the mechanisms that are occurring most commonly. This study has combined a number of data sources namely burns service, fire service, coroners' service and accident and emergency department in an attempt to define the epidemiology and aetiology of burn injury in Greater Manchester. Data from the different sources was pooled and underwent a process of data-linkage to remove duplicate records. Rates have been calculated and compared according to age group, sex group and deprivation status. Poisson regression modelling was used to calculate the rate ratios amongst the different groups. Postcode data was used to allow geographical mapping of injuries across the county to allow rates to be calculated for different areas of the city. Where rates have been calculated for small area geographies Bayesian modelling was used to predict injury rates for those areas. Maps have been produced that show the areas with the highest rates of injury. The results show that in children it is the under five age group that have the highest rates of injury, particularly the under 2's. In adults, those over 75 years of age have the highest rates of injury. For all age groups males were more likely to be injured than females. In both children and adults higher rates of injury were seen in those areas where there were increased levels of deprivation. Key mechanisms of injury for individual age groups have been highlighted. The maps of Greater Manchester and its constituent local authorities show those areas with the highest rates of injury. The definition of target demographic groups and geographical areas within Greater Manchester will be used to allow development of targeted prevention strategies in those areas.

<p>The aim of the study was to determine the effect of astatic stretching programme on injury prevention. Educational pamphlets and a static stretching regime were implemented to the experimental group.</p>

<p>The aim of the study was to determine the effect of astatic stretching programme on injury prevention. Educational pamphlets and a static stretching regime were implemented to the experimental group.</p>

<p>Football is the most popular sport in the world, and it continues to have a progressive annual increase in the number of active players and the number of games played per season, which in turn, leads to an increase in the frequency of injuries. Football is extensively researched worldwide, however, some current studies confirm that the results on football injury factors are limited, as well as inconsistent and incomplete. The main aim of this study was to examine interrelating factors of football injuries through the various age groups at a designated football club. The study aimed to expose the injury risk factors and patterns present in the various age groups.</p>

Background: Unintentional childhood injuries are ranked as the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, with an average of 31 million children each year arriving in hospital emergency departments across the nation with accidental trauma related injuries (CDC, 2016). Pediatric providers are in a key position to assess, identify, and implement interventions to improve the rates of unintentional injuries that occur within the pediatric population. Purpose: This study will examine pediatric providers’ knowledge of injury prevention and practice behaviors regarding educating families and/or caregivers regarding injury prevention, and the frequency that patients and/or caregivers are provided with safety education. Method: An evidence-based educational intervention regarding home and environmental safety measure was delivered during a Phoenix Children’s Hospital “Grand Rounds”. The data was collected using a pre-test and post-test survey to assess providers’ pre-knowledge of unintentional injury and their practice behaviors. Aim 1: (a) assess the knowledge of pediatric healthcare providers regarding home and environmental age-appropriate safety measures for children, (b) determine the practice behaviors of pediatric healthcare providers in educating patients and/or families regarding injury prevention, and (c) examine the frequency that patients and/or caregivers are provided safety education by their healthcare provider. Aim 2: To evaluate the impact of the educational session on provider knowledge regarding unintentional injury in children. Results: The McNemar test was used to analyze changes in providers scores from pre- to post-test. The level of significance was set at 0.05. The McNemar test revealed a significant increase in the providers’ knowledge of injury prevention between pre- and post-test in the following areas: providers’ definitions of injury; providers’ knowledge of the organization that developed the Children Risk Assessment; the approach providers take to educate caregivers about age-appropriate injury prevention measures in the infant/child home and environment; and examination of how often providers assess patient developmental age. Conclusion: The results of the study showed a statistically significant improvement in providers’ understanding of the prevalence of unintentional childhood injuries from pre- to post-test and the importance of providing patients and families with information that aid in their understanding of injury prevention and home environmental safety interventions.

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / The aim of the study was to determine the effect of astatic stretching programme on injury prevention. Educational pamphlets and a static stretching regime were implemented to the experimental group. / South Africa

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Background: The South African government has taken a stance to prioritise sporting codes within South Africa that report high participation and is inclusive of the population demographic of South Africa. Netball has been highlighted as one of these sixteen named sporting codes. Linked to the high participation of netball players in the sport is a high prevalence of injuries, which is well documented throughout the literature. Injury management within a South African context presents a number of challenges due to the current environment of health care in the country as well as an array of barriers that directly impact the netball players themselves as well as netball as a federation. Injury prevalence results in a need to both manage and prevent sporting injuries. The purpose of this study was to develop an injury prevention programme for netball players in South Africa and to establish the feasibility of such a programme for implementation. Method: The study took place under the auspices of Netball South Africa and the injury prevalence data was collected at a national netball tournament at the University of Pretoria. Sequential mixed methods was used as a framework to guide the study, and included a range of research methods as part of that process. The problem was identified in two phases using a cross sectional self-administered questionnaire and a qualitative aspect using semi-structured interviews. The design of the injury prevention programme that aimed to address the problem was informed by a systematic review of literature. The process that guided the development of the injury prevention programme was intervention mapping. This process led to the development of an injury prevention programme that included a coach’s educational booklet, an injury prevention exercise protocol and an administrative structure of a National Physiotherapy Association. The evaluation for feasibility for the implementation of the injury prevention programme was evaluated via a Delphi study.

Magister Sport, Recreation and Exercise Science - MSRES / Football is the most popular sport in the world, and it continues to have a progressive annual increase in the number of active players and the number of games played per season, which in turn, leads to an increase in the frequency of injuries. Football is extensively researched worldwide, however, some current studies confirm that the results on football injury factors are limited, as well as inconsistent and incomplete. The main aim of this study was to examine interrelating factors of football injuries through the various age groups at a designated football club. The study aimed to expose the injury risk factors and patterns present in the various age groups. / South Africa

Context: Many musicians experience playing-related pain and injuries. One of the recommended injury prevention strategies is to warm-up prior to playing a musical instrument. However, this recommendation is not always supported with empirical data. Additionally, multiple terms are used to describe warm-ups and may differ between authors, creating confusion around this injury prevention strategy. Objectives: The objectives of this thesis are to search for evidence-based studies that would support the benefit of warm-ups for musicians, reduce the confusion around musicians’ warm-ups, and bring clarity to the definition of warm-up. Methodology: In order to do so, this thesis presents two studies. The first study consisted of doing a systematized review of English published articles in order to identify if there was evidence to support the statement that warm-ups prevent injury. The methodology and results of each included article were evaluated using the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM)’s levels of evidence. The second article consisted of a terminology review and taxonomy in order to identify terms, organize them into categories and define warm-ups. The corpus contained the same articles that were included in the systematized review. Terms were identified from the corpus and the most frequently mentioned terms were used for the definition of warm-up. Terms were also categorized in a taxonomy in order to illustrate the different types of warm-ups that are recommended to musicians. Results: Twenty-nine studies were included in the analysis of the systematic review. Of these 29 studies, only one ranked at level I, which is the highest level of evidence, and most studies ranked at level V. The one study that was ranked at level I indicated that all three tested warm-up conditions did not have a muscular effect. Therefore, at the moment, there seems to be no evidence that supports the statement that warm-ups prevent injury. The terminology review led to the following definition of warm-up: “A routine, habit or exercise(s) that is/ are completed prior to playing repertoire or learning new material on a music instrument in order to prepare physically and mentally the musician. The following can be included as part of a musician’s warm-up: physical warm-up (completed without the instrument, for example stretches), musical warm-up (completed with the instrument, for example: scales, familiar tune/ favorite tune, long tones), and psychological warm-up.” It was also determined that stretching should also be defined as it is not always perceived as a warm-up. Stretching was defined as “Slow, controlled and progressive movements that are maintained for at least 20-30 seconds. These are done at various intervals throughout the day such as prior, during (breaks), and after the practice of a music instrument. They are referred to as physical exercises (away from the instrument). The following are some examples of stretching exercises: wrist rotations, forward neck roll, oppositional finger-wrist press, hand-finger extensions, fist clench and unclench, arms-bicep curls, handshakes, arms-triceps extension, and fingers clenched and unclenched.” The taxonomy indicated three warm-up categories: physical, musical and psychological. The physical and musical warm-ups were then subcategorized. It was not possible to subcategorize psychological warm-ups due to a lack of definition and examples in the literature. This study was a first step towards standardization, but further research is necessary in order to standardize a methodology and protocol.

Objectives: To examine the potential association between disability and risk of vehicle-pedestrian and vehicle-bicyclist collisions among children. Methods: Data from the 2002 National Transportation Availability and Use Survey for Persons with Disabilities (NTAUSPD) were analyzed. Results: Among 5019 persons who completed the survey, there were a total of 687 children between 5-17 years of age, including 299 respondents with and 388 without disabilities. After controlling for potential confounding variables, children with disabilities were more than five times more likely to have been hit by a motor vehicle as a pedestrian or bicyclist than children without disabilities (adjusted OR = 5.53, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.43-21.41). For all children, regardless of their disability status, children who reported having some difficulty with traffic had a significantly higher risk of collisions (adjusted OR = 50.71, 95% CI: 7.35-349.86). The most commonly reported traffic difficulties for all children with and without disabilities were "Too few or missing sidewalks/paths," "Do not know when it's safe to cross," and "Insensitive/unaware drivers.". Conclusions: Existing effective transportation safety interventions should be effective in reducing the risk of vehicle-pedestrian and vehicle-bicyclist collisions in children with disabilities. Future research and safety interventions should focus on how to promote the use of existing effective transportation safety interventions among children with disabilities and their families.