Introduction Wales has some of the best landscapes in Europe, including three national parks which host activities that include hill walking, canoeing, mountain biking, kayaking and climbing. Wales is also becoming more and more popular for 'extreme' sports, including surfing, hang gliding and downhill cycling. In addition, cultural, historical and industrial heritage sites in Wales attract sig...

BACKGROUND Downhill mountain biking (DMB) has become an increasingly popular extreme sport in the last few years with high velocities and bold manoeuvres. The goal of this study was to provide information on the pattern and causes of injuries in order to provide starting points for injury prevention measures. METHODS We performed a monthly e-mail-based prospective survey of 249 riders over on...

In a study of innovations developed by mountain bikers, we find that userinnovators almost always utilize “local” information – information already in their possession or generated by themselves both to determine the need for and to develop the solutions for their innovations. We argue that this finding fits the economic incentives operating on users. Local need information will in general be t...

BACKGROUND Mountain and road bike accidents are particularly common with the increased popularity of the sport. We reviewed the attendances in our emergency department over a 4-year period looking at cycling injuries to detect the level and grade of these injuries and their outcomes. METHOD Royal Blackburn Hospital caters for a population of 550 000. A search through the Hospital information ...

Acute altitude illnesses are potentially serious conditions that can affect otherwise fit individuals who ascend too rapidly to altitude. They include high altitude headache, acute mountain sickness, high altitude cerebral oedema, and high altitude pulmonary oedema. The number of people travelling to altitude for work (soldiers, miners, construction workers, and astronomers) or for recreation (...