Medical College of Georgia warns of child golf injuries

<p>In 1996, 20-month-old Robert Lee Storey was in the backyard playing with his dad, brother and sister. The phone rang and his father Blake took him inside.</p><p>But Robert snuck back outside to play, just in time to catch the full force of a 5-iron golf club above the right eye, from a swing by his sister Samantha.</p><p>The Plum Branch, S.C., boy suffered a skull fracture, the golf club making a visible imprint on his skull, his mother Beth said.</p><p>Doctors say the increasing popularity of golf is causing more children with golf-related injuries to turn up in the Medical College of Georgia's emergency room in Augusta, site of one of the nation's most anticipated golf tournaments _ the Masters, which starts on Thursday.</p><p>After analyzing the records of more than 2,500 children who required the help of a pediatric neurosurgeon from 1996-2002, medical college doctors were surprised to determine that golf was second only to bicycling as a cause for the head injury. Doctors had expected to find more injuries from football or baseball.</p><p>Of the 64 sports-related injuries found, 15 were golf-related _ seven from golf clubs, seven from golf cart accidents and one from a golf ball, said Dr. Scott Rahimi, neurosurgery resident at the college and author of the study, published in the March issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery.</p><p>"A lot of people in this region play golf, it's a reason why we have so many injuries," he said.</p><p>Rahimi started the study after doing hospital rounds at the medical college and finding two children with head injuries from golf.</p><p>Of the 15 children with golf-related injuries, six needed surgery. All but one _ a child who died after falling out of a golf cart _ have recovered, Rahimi said.</p><p>Other health officials have reported similar golf-related injuries in the past.</p><p>In 2003, an estimated 17,636 children under 19 were treated in U.S. emergency rooms for injuries associated with golf or golf carts. But children suffer more injuries from contact sports such as football than golf, said Steve Forde, spokesman for the Consumer Products Safety Commission in Washington.</p><p>In 1997 _ three months after golf superstar Tiger Woods won his first Masters at Augusta National _ four children needed surgery at Westchester Medical Center in New York for skull fractures from a golf club.</p><p>A 1996 study found a 32 percent increase in golf-cart related injuries in children age 10 or younger in North Carolina, Rahimi said.</p><p>Rahimi said it's important to teach safety when instructing children on any sport.</p><p>"With a golf club, it's basically a heavy-ended metal bat," he said.</p><p>Back in Plum Branch, Robert _ now 9 _ has fully recovered and now is "actually swinging the clubs" in the backyard, Beth Storey said.</p><p>The only thing different about him is the inch-and-a-half scar above his right eye. Family members have given him the nickname "Harry Potter," the fictional wizard in children's books who also has a trademark scar on his forehead.</p><p>"It's not a bad scar, but it is defnitely there," she said. "Golf clubs can become a hazard. Even though it's meant for a tool of sport, it can become a dangerous tool."</p><p>____</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1b5f8e4)</p>

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