Citation

Kataria A, Bhatnagar N, Lingaiah P, Bhatia N, Arora S. J. Hand Microsurg. 2023; 15(2): 158-160.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Society of the Hand and Microsurgeons of India, Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1055/s-0040-1718970

PMID

37020606

PMCID

PMC10069997

Abstract

Kite flying is a common recreational activity in Indian subcontinent during the months of July to September.[1] It takes a competitive turn in the form of "kite fighting" which involves "taking down" the rivals' kite by cutting its string. The kite string is "enhanced" (commonly known as "manjha" in India) to give a competitive advantage and powdered glass is used for the purpose to give it a cutting edge.[2] [3] [4] [5] This makes kite strings dangerous with potential to cause severe injuries. Head and neck injuries caused by such kite strings are commonly reported, but the literature on tendon injuries remains sparse.

We wish to bring the spectrum of tendon injuries to your kind attention that are caused by kite string as we did retrospective review of prospectively collected data of all the patients who suffered tendon injuries caused by kite string from July 2016 to September 2016 and were treated in the Orthopedic Department of our tertiary level teaching referral hospital ([Table 1]). Out of the seven patients included in the study, six had injury to the upper limb ([Fig. 1]), whereas one patient had a tendoachilles tear ([Fig. 2]). Only three patients presented to us on the day of injury and hence underwent primary repair. The rest underwent delayed primary or secondary repair due to delayed presentation. Three of the injured were pedestrians, two were riding cycles, and two while flying kites. Six patients had injury to tendons of the hand (four on dominant side and two on nondominant side) and one sustained injury to the tendoachilles tendon. None of the cases had associated bony injuries. All injuries were sustained in urban areas. Three of the injured were pedestrians, two were riding cycles, and two while flying kites. All injuries were sustained in the evening when kite flying is most prevalent. All patients had good clinical results at 12-month follow-up...

Language: en