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Comment by screwturner68 | Hacker News Reader

maybe it's just my old man memory but when I was young in the 70's there was always one or two kids in a cast, usually a broken arm -it was a bit of a badge of honor and something for everyone to sign. Now I almost never see a kid in a cast maybe medicine has gotten a lot better and things seem to have had the entire danger aspect removed from them. I wonder if play today is boring or there is so much safety that kids don't think anything about doing something stupid since they can't get hurt.

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I won't judge how the risk and injuries has changed. But medicine changed. The strict tied cascing is done less and for shorter periods these days. There are lighter and smaller orthoses these days, which can be worn under clothing and allow some flexibility.

As a 2000s/2010s kid, I would word it the same way you did: “there was always one or two kids in a cast.” If your wording is accurate to your experience then I don’t think much has changed. If you don’t physically work in a school then it’s a tough pattern to monitor.

I'm looking at a grade school right now, I watch kids come and go all day long but yes I don't have backing statistics.

I heard a researcher speaking on how litigation against playground owners in the 1970s in the USA over injuries and in one case a child fatality drove the more stringent playground regulations. However, the unintended consequence was an increase in children's long bone injuries, and her research suggested that this is due to kids not learning to navigate risk on the "safer" playgrounds and eventually getting injured elsewhere where the ground isn't forgiving like all the artificial playground surfaces.

Take you kids to play in the woods!

Lawyers ruined a super-fun slide just a few years ago

https://www.nbcchicago.com/consumer/tower-slide-at-chicagos-...

90’s as well. Lots of casts. I didn’t get one so I’m not sure how to judge the risk-reward.

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