This year, winter ice has become a serious challenge for pedestrians. Slippery sidewalks, unlit yards, and stairs without anti-slip surfaces have caused a sharp increase in injuries.
According to traumatologist Andriy Kostyuk, emergency rooms are currently receiving significantly more calls than last year. The main reasons for the increase in injuries were prolonged ice and heavy snowfall.
People aged 25 to 70 are most often injured. In younger patients (20–50 years), fractures of the tibia predominate, and in older people (40–70 years), the shoulder joint is more often affected. Doctors call the “classic set” of injuries: fractures of the ankle bones, radius, humerus and tibia. A separate danger is represented by blows to the head, as well as injuries to the elbows and knees.
To reduce the risk of falling on ice, experts advise avoiding unlit areas, not taking wide steps, looking carefully under your feet, holding onto handrails, and trying to fall on your side or buttocks. Shoes should be comfortable and have non-slip soles, and you can additionally use anti-slip pads with spikes.
Doctors consider open fractures and multiple joint injuries to be the most dangerous, as they take a long time to heal and often leave complications. The recovery of people with concomitant diseases, such as diabetes or heart problems, is especially difficult.
In case of a fall and suspicion of a fracture, you should call an ambulance, do not try to move the limb, immobilize the injured area, give painkillers and apply cold through the tissue. Self-treatment in such cases only worsens the condition.
Trauma centers accept patients on a territorial basis and are divided by specialization: for injuries to the extremities, back, eye, ENT, neurosurgical, and maxillofacial injuries, as well as for adults and children.
Doctors are urging Ukrainians to be careful on the streets, because even one moment on a slippery sidewalk can turn into months of treatment and rehabilitation.
