Tripping the Light Fantastic

Back in the day when I way visiting my foot doctor fairly regularly to be treated for my foot pain, I spent quite a bit of time in his office waiting for various treatments. I remember sitting next to a lady who had broken her foot and was hoping that acupuncture would speed her recovery. It seems she was booked on a cruise and intended to participate in the shore excursions. I asked her how she had injured herself and she looked kind of sheepish. "I tripped over my dog," she said. "I feel so stupid."

Well, according to the CDC (yes, you read that right!), she is far from alone. A new report finds that between the years 2001-2006, an average of 86,629 fall injuries per year were associated with cats and dogs, resulting in an average annual injury rate of 29.7 per 100,000 people. Of these, nearly 88% were associated with dogs and females were 2.1 times more likely to be injured than males. And injuries were most frequent among persons aged 1-14 years and 35-54 years.

The most common injuries were contusions and fractures and the majority of falls occurred in or around the home. 26% of falls with dogs happened while persons were walking them (count me among that group) and the most frequent circumstances were tripping over a dog. Falling over a pet item accounted for 8.8% of the falls.

The moral of all this research? People fall over their dogs all the time--probably more than we like to admit. I personally find little dogs under my feet to be a huge nuisance, but I will admit that my big ones seem to plop themselves in the most inopportune place--usually as close as they can get to anything related to food--and I do find myself climbing over them, often with hot things in my hands.

Still, in 2006, cats and dogs accounted for approximately 1% of the 8 million fall injuries treated in Emergency Departments so depending on your point of view, the risk is either worth it, or not. Personally, I think the opportunity to let my dogs run off leash has probably saved me from being part of that statistic. Knock on wood, as they say.