Emergency rooms are booming with baby boomers who – desperate to keep fit – are injuring themselves more than ever when working out and playing sports.
That’s the word from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which says health-conscious 35- to 54-year-olds suffer more sports-related injuries than other age groups.
“Exercise is important to stay healthy, but as we get older, we need to take more precautions,” CPSC Chairwoman Ann Brown said. “Many of these injuries can be prevented by warming up regularly, not overdoing it and wearing safety gear.”
She said sports-related injuries for boomers increased by 33 percent from 1991 to 1998. That led to skyrocketing health-care costs of more than $18.7 billion in 1998.
An estimated 1 million boomers suffered sports injuries in 1998, and, of those, 365,000 were treated in emergency rooms. That’s compared with just under 276,000 boomers treated for the same injuries in 1991.
The largest increase was among boomers doing general exercise and running. In 1991, fewer than 10,000 exercise and running injuries were reported, but that number had more than tripled by 1998.