Confirmed: Computer use breeds klutzes

A study released Tuesday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine appears to indicate that mere proximity to computers makes people incredibly clumsy. The report claims that over the past 13 years, in-home computer-related injuries involving bumping into, tripping over, or standing under falling computers are up sevenfold -- sending over 78,000 people, presumably not all of whom are Wile E. Coyote or one of the Three Stooges, to the emergency room.

Monitors are the main culprits, pouncing on innocent humans more often than any other piece of gear. When the survey began in 1994, 11.6% of acute injuries could be lain at the round plastic pedestal of the monitor; by 2003 -- around the era of the largest, heaviest CRT monitors -- that percentage was up to 37.1%. By the end of 2006, the percentage was back down to 25.1%. Injuries to the extremities were most common (57.4%).

Sadly, the two constituencies most often at odds with the silicon are the very old and the very young. Children under 5 had the highest injury rate of all groups, and shared with patients over 60 the tendency to trip or fall over gear. Worse, kids have a habit of stopping the computers with their heads; 75.8% of children under 5 and 61.8% of those aged 5-9 bonked their noggins badly enough to win a trip to the emergency room. Across all age groups, lacerations were the most common injury (38.5%), followed by contusions or abrasions (23%), sprains and strains (18.2%), fractures (6.9%), and "other" (13.5%).

Overall, the rise in injuries (732% over 13 years) rose far faster than actual household computer ownership over the same period (302%). Males were slightly (53.5%) more likely to run into trouble than females, which may or may not have something to do with most (58%) injuries happening when gear was being moved from one spot to another. Fortunately for all, 99.3% of patients were treated and released -- though that doesn't hold true for patients over 60, 4% of whom required hospitalization or further care.

The conclusions in the AJPM study were derived from data collected in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database. The full study is currently available online in PDF format.

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