About This Webpage

This work provides healthcare visit, and sports, home, and work-related injury information from 1998 through 2006/2007. The information for musculoskeletal procedures is not included in this report but is available upon request. Wherever possible, we present information by anatomical area, sex, and age groups.

Our age groupings correspond to the ages of the different US generations as of 2006/2007 (i.e., at the time of the most recent data collection). Accordingly, we categorize those who were 0-18 years old in 2006/2007 as children, the group was19-42 years old in 2006/2007 as Generations X and Y (which we combine), those aged 43-61 in 2006/2007 as Baby Boomers, and those older 61 in 2006/2007 as older than Baby Boomers.

We have tried to maintain consistency through this report to enhance the comparability of the statistics we present. However, our ability to do so is limited by the way information is presented in available databases. For example, the database from which we derive information on work-related injuries uses “leg” to refer to the knee, upper leg, and lower leg, and “arm” to refer to the elbow, upper arm, and lower arm. On the other hand, the database from which we derive information on emergency room visits uses “leg” to refer to the upper and lower leg, but not the knee, and “arm” to refer the upper and lower arm, but not the elbow. These differences among definitions arise, in part, because the databases we used employ different coding systems. The NIESS Coding Manual and the Product Code Compatible Manual are used in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System for home injury and sports injury, and the International Classification of Disease, 9^th Revision, Clinical Modification is used in the National Hospital Discharge Survey for procedures. Finally, some inconsistencies arise in our report because some information is not present in some databases. For example, estimates for work-related injuries by sex and by age group are not provided by the database we used.

We have also combined some information. In some instances, we have done this to enhance the graphical display on the website. For example, we combine information about physician visits for good and toe complaints for this reason. In other instances, we have combined information to increase the reliability of the data. For example, we have combined information on wrist, hand, and finger replacements for this reason. In general, however, we have maintained the anatomical distinctions made in the original database.