Older adults sometimes get themselves a dog for companionship. But the pets are increasingly sending their owners to the emergency room（ER）. Injuries that happen while walking a dog can result in life-changing circumstances and such accidents are increasing, according to a study published in the medical journal JAMA Surgery.
The study looked at patients who made visits to hospital emergency departments throughout the United States from 2004 to 2017．Researchers said that there were more than 32,000 emergency room cases of fractures（骨折） associated with walking leashed（用皮带束缚的） dogs among people 65 and older. Cases increased from 1.671 ER visits in 2004 to 4,396 in 2017.
According to the study, nearly 80 percent of the patients have been women, whose generally lower bone density（密度） than that in men may be a reason. Being female means you are more likely to suffer fractures and bone disease, such as osteoporosis（骨质疏松症）. Susan Bush, 69, says she has been injured multiple times while walking her dogs, including suffering a broken leg while trying to prevent her dog from running after a bear that came out of the woods near her Pennsyivania cottage, But despite this, she refuses to give up her pets. "Dogs are our soulmates," she says.
Some seniors may be underrating the physical risks involved in walking a dog every day, says Dr. Jaimo Ahn, a lead author of the study. In most cases, Ahn blames what he called a"small person/big dog"scenario（情景）， where there is a disparity between a pet and its owner's ability to handle it. He also says that some seniors might not be as prepared to handle a pet as they should be. "Some of them are really well-trained, but others are really poorly trained," he says.
The researchers suggest that clinicians work with patients who use dog walking as exercise to reduce the risk of injury. That could include training dogs not to make sudden movements when leashed and suggesting smaller types of dogs.