Pediatric Hand Treadmill Injuries

The great popularity of physical fitness in modern society has brought many pieces of exercise equipment into our homes for convenience and privacy. This trend has come with an increasing rate of injuries to children who curiously touch moving parts, including treadmill belts. Experience with a recent series of treadmill contact burns to children's hands is described in this article. A retrospective chart review at a tertiary referral center from June 1998 until June 2001 found six children sustaining hand burns from treadmills. The patients' ages at presentation ranged from 15 to 45 months (average of 31 months, three boys and three girls). All injuries occurred in the home while a parent was using the treadmill. Burns involved the palmar aspect of the hand, mostly confined to the fingers, and the severity ranged from partialto full-thickness burns. All patients were initially managed with collagenase and bacitracin zinc/polymyxin B powder dressings to second-and third-degree burns, along with splinting and rangeof-motion exercises. Two patients required skin grafting at 2 weeks and 2 months for full-thickness tissue loss and tight joint contracture, respectively. At an average follow-up of 12 months, all patients had full range of motion and no physical limitation. The rate of children injured by exercise equipment is expected to increase. Friction burns to the hands remain a concern, although early recognition and appropriate management are associated with excellent functional outcomes. Protective modification of exercise machines seems to be the best approach to eliminating these injuries

Nonoperative correction of pectus carinatum with orthotic bracing.

BACKGROUND: This study sought to evaluate the efficacy of nonoperative compression in correcting pectus carinatum in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Children presenting with pectus carinatum between August 1999 and January 2004 were prospectively enroll

Effect of pectus excavatum deformity on cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescent boys.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the magnitude of the effects of pectus excavatum deformity on endurance fitness and cardiorespiratory functional reserve in adolescent boys. DESIGN: Cross-sectional comparison of cardiac and ventilatory variables at rest and durin

Quantitation of lung sealing in the survival swine model.

PURPOSE: Small intercostal spaces and limited pleural space significantly limits the use of 12-mm stapling devices in pediatric thoracoscopic surgery. The goal of this study was to compare sealing of lung tissue by the 5-mm Ligasure (Valley Lab, Boulder