Doctor warns of sledging dangers

(First Edition)

FIRST it was smoking, then drinking, now doctors are warning of the perils of sledging, when a combination of high spirits, alcohol, and unorthodox equipment make it one of the quickest ways to injure yourself, writes Liz Hunt.

Dr John Silver, a consultant in spinal injuries, says the number of sledging accidents is increasing as more people take winter holidays, and he claims it is now comparable to motorcycling in the number of back injuries it causes. Between 1984 and 1988 there were six serious accidents involving spinal injuries after sledgers were flung off at high speeds, landing on their backs.

'Most accidents occurred when the participants struck an obstruction such as a pylon or a tree in unfamiliar circumstances,' Dr Silver writes in tomorrow's issue of the British Medical Journal. When account is taken of the amount of time people actually spend sledging, the accident rate is extremely high.

Dr Silver blames the social atmosphere, alcohol, icy slopes and darkness. 'Unorthodox' equipment was also a factor and included a plastic sheet and a rubber ring towed by a car, which then lost control.