Health

Selfie-induced injuries leaving some snap unhappy

Doctors in Galway identify four wrist fractures caused by selfies in just one week

An X-ray of a 13-year-old girl’s wrist fractured while attempting to take a selfie while jumping on the trampoline. Photograph: Irish Medical Journal

Dr Muiris Houston
Tue Jun 13 2017 - 01:00

Beware the selfie-induced injury this summer warn doctors from University College Hospital Galway (UCHG). In the current issue of the Irish Medical Journal, they describe four fractures seen in just one week at the hospital last summer, all due to trauma while people were taking selfies.

Dr Rebecca Lyons and colleagues from the Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery at UCHG say seeing four cases of selfie-induced wrist fractures in one week raised their curiosity. All four patients were female, ranging in age from 13 to 40.

The oldest was perched on rocks at a well known beauty spot when she took a couple of steps backwards while taking a selfie and fell onto rocks. She fractured her right wrist, which required an operation to wire the broken bone together.

The youngest was sharing a trampoline with a friend when she attempted to take a mid-air selfie. She fell and suffered a double wrist fracture which required manipulation under anaesthesia in order to reset the bones.

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All four patients fractured the arm not holding the smartphone, which the authors suggest means that “selfie-takers value and are protective of their smartphone.”

“Despite their widespread use, no additional props such as selfie sticks were involved [in these cases]”, the authors add.

Selfie-induced injuries are likely linked to a loss of spatial awareness while taking the photographs, as attention is focused on the mobile device, feedback from the peripheral nervous system that people rely on for balance may be impaired.

The doctors call for increased education in Ireland about the hazards of taking selfies, pointing out that, after a number of selfie related fatalities there, the Ministry of the Interior in Russia has recently published a 'Safe Selfie Guide'.

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