This Week in the MMWR: Those Gol' Darned Nail Guns

First in a series: From this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC's chronicle of reports from state health departments: "Nail-Gun Injuries Treated in Emergency Departments --- United States, 2001--2005". The, uh, upshot: Nail gun injuries among consumers have tripled since 1990, with nearly 15,000 misfires in 2005. Not surprisingly, 98% of those injured are men. Here are the gory details:

Certain puncture wounds resulted from a nail going through construction material into a person; in others, a nail was shot completely through a body part, or a person removed the nail before seeking treatment. Approximately 4% of nail-gun injuries among workers resulted in fractured bones.¶ Injuries to upper extremities, primarily hands and fingers, accounted for 75% of all consumer nail-gun injuries and 66% of all worker nail-gun injuries. Lower extremities also were injured frequently, accounting for 17% of consumer injuries and 24% of worker injuries. Examples of other nail-gun injuries among either workers or consumers included eye injuries from foreign bodies and corneal abrasions; dental injuries; musculoskeletal injuries such as sprains, strains, tendonitis, nerve damage from tool use, and finger dislocation from reaching and lifting a tool; lacerations; electrical burns; and noise-induced hearing difficulty.

I don't really have anything to add, other than: Ouch.