Last week we talked about how to dress children for outdoor play during the winter. This week, we’ll look at safety during outdoor recreation. Dr. Bradley Burns, an Emergency Department Physician at Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville, Minnesota, is back with us this week to help us learn about keeping safe during winter activities.
Snow Play Safety
In addition to ensuring your child is dressed appropriately and being weather aware, it’s important that you adequately supervise your children during snow play. Dr. Burns recommends getting outdoors and playing with your kids – it’s good for you and good for them! Additionally:
- Experts say that a child under 8 years of age should never be outside unsupervised.
- Never allow your children to play in snowbanks or in or near streets.
- Teach your children to stay far away from snow plows and snow blowers
- Tunneling into the snow is very dangerous, as the snow can collapse without warning.
- Keeping your face covered helps with discomfort from rapidly inhaling cold air.
- Take breaks indoors to warm up and stay hydrated. Hydration helps the body temperature regulate. [Source.]
- Teach your children to be aware of ice accumulation, especially on sidewalks, patios, driveways, and near drain pipers, and to exercise caution when walking on these surfaces
- Teach your child to never put metal objects in their mouth. The mouth can freeze to the metal and cause injury when trying to remove it.
Sledding & Tubing Safety
The most common injuries Dr. Burns sees in young children during the winter months are from falls and sledding, with injuries ranging from bruises to broken bones to concussions. To keep safe, he recommends:
- Choosing your sled carefully – tubes may have less control than a sled
- Teach your children to maintain distance from each other and from hazardous objects (trees, rocks, ponds, streets, fences, etc.)
- Feet first! Avoid lying on your stomach while sledding, as forearm fractures and head injuries are more likely to occur when sledding in this position
- Always provide adult supervision during sledding and tubing.
- Experts recommend sledding with a snow sport helmet.
For more information, head on over the USDA’s sledding and tubing safety fact sheet.
Skiing, Snowboarding & Skating Safety
Common injuries in these sports include forearm/wrist fractures and head injuries. To help prevent these from occurring:
- Ensure you have good lighting while participating in these activities
- Maintain an appropriate distance from other people
- Teach your children to participate only at their skill level. Injuries are more likely to occur when children attempt stunts and maneuvers without appropriate skill level, instruction and supervision.
- Always provide adult supervision
- Wear a helmet while skiing, snowboarding and skating.
- Injuries to the head during ice skating are actually greater than in other types of skating which generally require protective helmets (in-line, skateboarding, etc.). 5-14 year-olds accounted for 47% of ice skating injuries annually, according to one report. [Source.] While helmets may not always prevent a concussion, they can help minimize it and also help prevent skull fractures and lacerations to the scalp. You can use any snow-sport helmet that has a chin strap that secures it to your child’s head. Bicycle helmets also work in a pinch, but don’t cover the entire head and ears.
- When ice skating on bodies of water, never assume it’s safe! An adult should always verify that the ice is at least 4” thick before skating. [Source.] Ice on bodies of moving water (such as rivers) is always unpredictable and should not be skated on.
Watch for Danger Signs
- If your child has a fall, look out for unusual behavior, worsening headaches, weakness, for up to 72 hours after the fall.
- Frostnip is the precursor to frostbite. If your child’s skin is red, numb, or tingly, they’ve been out too long. Bring them inside and remove all wet clothing, and gently warm chilled areas by immersing in warm (not hot) water. Frostbite commonly occurs on fingers, ears, nose, and toes, and will turn the skin white or yellowish grey.
- Watch for signs of hypothermia: shivering, sluggishness, slurred speech, unusual clumsiness. Call 911 immediately if you suspect hypothermia.
- You can find the AAP recommendations for frostbite and hypothermia here.
Acknowledgment & Thanks
Thank you to Dr. Burns for joining us for this series on winter safety! Dr. Brad Burns grew up in Fargo, ND and attended college at Minnesota State University, Moorhead where he double majored in Biology and Chemistry. He attended medical school at Kansas City University and while earning his MBA in Healthcare Leadership from Rockhurst University, both in Kansas City, MO. After graduating medical school, he completed his emergency medicine residency and worked in the Detroit metro area. He has worked at M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital since 2016. Dr. Burns is an Assistant Medical Director in the emergency department at M Health Fairview Ridges. He is also the Director of physician informatics for emergency medicine in the M Health Fairview health system.
