Pediatric hand injuries due to home exercycles

The clinical presentation and management of 19 children who sustained injur ies by stationary exercise bicycles were reviewed retrospectively. These in juries represented 32 traumatized digits with a minimum of 2-year follow-up . The index and long fingers were most commonly involved. Wheel-spoke injur ies typically produced repairable nerve and tendon lacerations, and full fu nctional recovery in these cases was common, The chain/sprocket injury invo lved a crushing mechanism and frequently produced severe injury including a mputations that were not salvageable. Stationary exercise bicycles represen ted a predictable source of severe hand injury in children between the ages of 18 months and 5 years. Adult supervision was not reliable in preventing contact between an operating exercycle and a child's hand. We recommend th at children not be allowed access to any stationary exercycle machinery, wh ether it is in use or not. Safety design considerations should focus on not only shielding the wheel spokes, but also (and perhaps even mon important) on enclosing the entire chain axis and gear interface. In addition to thes e design considerations, public education will be critical in reducing the incidence of injury.