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ROCHESTER, MINN. -- Power lawn mowers can turn lawn debris into dangerous missiles. In the June issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic surgeons report on the case of a four-year old Iowa boy who was "shot" through the abdomen by a piece of metal propelled by a power lawn mower. The piece of chain link fence pierced the boy's intestine and vena cava (the central vessel carrying blood from the heart to the body) and lodged in his spine. Surgeons were able to safely remove the metal and the boy recovered from the wound. The surgeons warn that the power of power mowers must be respected. They say that a typical 25- to 26-inch mower blade (the size of a small riding mower) operating at high speed generates "three times the muzzle energy of a .357 magnum pistol, which can fire a bullet through the engine block of an automobile."
"Power mowers can propel an object at an incredible velocity," says Dr. Scott Zietlow, a Mayo Clinic trauma surgeon and one of the authors of the report. "Luckily those objects do lose speed rather quickly." Dr. Zietlow says that tractor and riding mowers are responsible for the majority of power mower accidents. Projectile injuries are actually much less common than injures resulting from direct contact with lawnmower blades. Either kind of injury can be prevented using the following measures:
* Wear protective eyewear and footwear
* Educate children about keeping hands and toes away from mower blades
* Stay out of the "line of fire" of a mower and at least 10 yards away (preferably even further)
* Keep children off of mowers
* Don't let children younger than age 12 operate a mower
* Clear debris off the lawn
* Use a grass catcher
* Be sure controls are readily accessible so that the machine can be quickly turned off in the event of an emergency
* Keep blades sharp so that the mower can be operated at the lowest effective speed, thus reducing the force of potential projectiles
* Carelessness is the usual cause of mower accidents, either by operators or bystanders," says Dr. Zietlow. "Almost every accident can be prevented if people just think about what they are doing."
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