Emergency rooms see increased injuries with snow

Have you heard any of these medical terms in the past week?

Colles' fracture. Scaphoid fracture. Buckle fracture. Growth-plate fracture.

Then maybe you or a family member were among those giving local hospital emergency rooms an increase in snow injuries.

At the Group Health Bellevue Medical Center, the urgent-care center saw more than a twofold jump in the sorts of injuries associated with snow — to wrists, ankles, backs and elbows.

Typically, said Dr. John Mercier, chief of the Bellevue urgent-care center, his location sees three to four such injuries each day during good weather; since snow began falling, it's been six to 11 such injuries a day.

He said that wrist sprains, and the many different kinds of wrist fractures, are among the most common.

The reason isn't hard to figure out:

The ground is slippery.

You fall.

You try to break the fall by throwing your hands forward.

The impact breaks your wrist.

Mercier said staffing at his facility on bad-weather days stays the same as for normal days.

There is an increase in people coming in with snow-related injuries, he said, but other people decide to postpone trips to the doctor until the weather improves.

At Seattle Children's hospital, 15 to 21 sledders were treated in the past week for various injuries. The hospital treats individuals up to age 21.

"It snows so infrequently here that kids get psyched up because they're not used to it," said Dr. Tony Woodward, chief of emergency services.

He said he knew of three youths treated at the hospital with life-threatening injuries related to the snow. One was a child run over by a car while sledding.

Other children, he said, have sledded into parked cars or "a stationary object," such as steps to a house.

Woodward suggested that adults stand watch at the top and bottom of hills used for sledding, and that the children wear helmets, especially on steeper slopes.

"Broken bones and cuts usually heal," he said. "A head injury, that's usually a more significant issue."

Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com