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 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(0x18351e8)</p>

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