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Most BASE jumping injuries found to be severe
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BOULDER, Colo. — Although the rate of injury for BASE jumpers is fairly low, the injuries are substantial, according to data presented at the International Extreme Sports Medicine Annual Congress, here.
Omer Mei-Dan
The number of athletes BASE jumping, which is the extreme sport where athletes hurl themselves off buildings, antennas, bridge spans and earth formations, has increased significantly during the last 20 years, Omer Mei-Dan, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedics at the University of Colorado, said.
Mei-Dan and colleagues studied 102 BASE jumpers, approximately 10% of the world’s population of these athletes, who had been active for more than 3 months and had taken more than 10 jumps. This cohort undertook a median of 286 jumps during a median of 6 years.
Researchers found 39 injuries in 29 athletes and severe injuries occurred in 2.6 cases per 1,000 jumps. Most of the injuries sustained by BASE jumpers were serious and possibly life-threatening, as injuries to jumpers have a mean AIS value of 3.2. Overall, 61% of the injuries involved the lower extremities. Such injuries are common due to the small landing area and usually consist of fractures throughout the lower limb or ankle sprains, he said.
Mei-Dan said of all BASE jumpers in the study, 72% have personally witnessed either a fatality or serious injury to themselves or another athlete.
“Just in the past few months, we lost about 22 BASE jumpers from a population of around 2,000,” he said.
BASE jumping has 12 times the fracture rate of skydiving, Mei-Dan said. In the evaluation of all experienced BASE jumpers, Mei-Dan and colleagues found that 65% were concurrently involved in other adventure sports.
Orthopedics Today is the medical media partner for the International Extreme Sports Medicine Congress. —by Christian Ingram
Reference:
Mei-Dan O. Base jumping. Presented at: International Extreme Sports Medicine Annual Congress; June 13-14, 2014; Boulder, Colo.
Disclosure: Mei-Dan has no relevant financial disclosures