Ann. Pak. Inst. Med. Sci. 2010; 6(2): 116-119

Objective: To have a cross sectional view of the burden of injuries resulting from the kite flying activity with respect to age and sex of affected population and spectrum and nature of injuries.
Place and Duration of study: The study was undertaken in the surgical departments of two Allied hospitals, Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Rawalpindi from 10th February to 31st March 2009 during the Basant festival.
Study Design: Retrospective cross sectional Study.
Materials and Methods: Patients of all ages and either sex, who were victims of kite flying activity (directly or indirectly), were included in this study.
Results: 139 (7.09% of all admissions) cases were found to be specifically related to kite-flying. 40 (28.78%) cases were of simple cuts on fingers caused directly through the string of the kite, with all patients having burn over the palmer aspect of at least one hand. Young boys were victim of fall from roof resulting in fractures, in 28 (20.1%) upper limb, in 13 (9.4% ) lower limb, in 12 (8.6% ) head trauma and 29 patients (20.9% ) had multiple bruises and lacerations while 15 (10.8% ) had neck injuries resulting from chemical-coated strings. 01 (0.72%) firearm injury was also reported.
Conclusion: A preventive program should be developed to diminish the number of kite-flying-related invalidating sequels. Legislations are effective by providing automatic passive protections but educational reinforcement is also needed.
Key Words: Kite-Flying, Trauma, Bruises, Injuries, Fractures, Lacerations.


Introduction

Kite-flying is a popular sport in children and young adults in many cultures around the world. Kites have been introduced more than three thousand years ago in China from where the kite flying experience traveled throughout Asia, Europe, and later in America, Australia and other countries around the globe.¹ Kite flying is a traditional recreation in Pakistan as well and is celebrated as "Jashan-e-Bharan" or Basant at the start of Spring season in the months of February and March.
Previously kite flyers mainly used kite-string which was made with three to nine layers of variously treated cotton thread. In the early 1980s, elastic kite-string and nylon cord were introduced but kite enthusiasts were not too keen to adopt them as the cotton thread can slice through the competitor’s kite-string while nylon cord broke it, which was against traditional rules of kite flying. In the recent past kite fighters started using metallic, chemical and glass powder coated string (Manja) to make the competition of kite fighting more challenging. Use of such strings has turned the simple traditional fun of kite flying deadlier and now it has become the potential cause of severe injuries, disabilities and deaths each year.²³ Statistics documented in 2006 show that about 450 people have been killed during the kite-flying festival in the last ten years in Pakistan.⁸
This year the Supreme Court ban was lifted for 15 days starting from 15th February 2009 on popular demand and has resulted in patients coming to emergency department due to kite flying injuries. This study is designed to document the number of cases presented to our hospitals during Basant festival in 2009 with spectrum of injuries and to suggest different preventive and safety measures in this regard.
Injuries of kite flying activity are commonly sustained by kite-flyers, kite-runners, riders of two wheelers and pedestrians. Injuries related to kite flying commonly range from mild injuries to severe disability and death and may manifest with varied clinical presentations with chemical, metallic and manja strings.
This retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the pattern and rate of kite surfing injuries over a period of one and a half month approximately during Basant festival form 10th Feb to 31st Mar 2009, and included admissions through accident and emergency departments of two Allied hospitals of Rawalpindi, Benazir Bhutto hospital (BBH) and Holy family hospital (HFH).