Skateboard injuries incur economic pain, too

Researchers from UC Irvine School of Medicine’s Center for Trauma and Injury Prevention have found that the economic aches attached to a skatepark-related injury can be as great as the physical pains. Dr. Federico Vaca and colleagues tracked emergency room patients at UC Irvine Medical Center who injured themselves at a nearby skatepark and found the average cost for each injury was nearly $3,200. Medical costs comprised two-thirds of this amount, and lost wages accounted for the other third for both patients and their families. Economic impact was greatest on working adults older than 25 who missed an average of 17 days of work because of their injuries. The study appears in Clinical Medicine & Research.