Beware of the force of the horse: mechanisms and severity of equestrian-related injuries.

BACKGROUND: Equestrian-related injuries (ERIs) are relatively severe compared with injuries in other popular sports. Previous studies on epidemiology of ERIs vary widely and mainly focus on incidence instead of severity of the injury.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine incidence, mechanisms and severity of ERIs in two Dutch hospitals (level 1 and level 2 trauma centers) over a 5-year period.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: All patients with ERIs who visited the emergency departments of VieCuri Medical Centre in Venlo and Maastricht University Medical Centre+ in Maastricht, The Netherlands, between July 2010 and June 2015 were retrospectively included. Clinical data were extracted from medical records.

RESULTS: Most ERIs occurred in mounted riders (646 events; 68%); 94.9% of which involved a fall. Being kicked (42.5%) or trapped (30.1%) was the most common cause of injury in unmounted riders. Most frequently injured body parts were the upper extremities (43.8%) in mounted riders and lower extremities (40.5%) in the unmounted group. A relatively high percentage of facial injuries (9.7%) were found in the unmounted group. Seventeen per cent of all ERIs required admission. The median Injury Severity Score was 5 in the admitted population and 1 in the total population.

CONCLUSION: Horseback riding is a risky activity. Prior studies particularly studied admitted patients in level 1 trauma centers outside of Europe and demonstrated a high risk of significant injury. However, our study demonstrates that these studies in selected groups might have overestimated the severity of ERIs in the general population.