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Bone-breaking cities: Where are the riskiest areas in England?

Tetbury takes the top spot as the UK town with the highest fracture likelihood.

Healthcare vehicle: An ambulance waits for the net call. Image by © Tim Sandle
Healthcare vehicle: An ambulance waits for the net call. Image by © Tim Sandle

Tetbury takes the top spot as the UK town with the highest fracture likelihood. The stand-out statistic is that out of all emergency hospital visits, 8.15 percent were related to fractures. Cracking behind are Salisbury, Shepton, Southampton, and Harrogate. This rounds out the top five.

Another area trend high is Nottingham. The area reported the highest number of accident and emergency hospital visits related to bone fractures, totalling 182,645, followed closely by Leicester with 181,740, and London with 169,850.

The top ten cities with the most broken bones are:

RankCityA&E Attendance NumberTotal CasesFracture Rate
1Tetbury2,8852358.15
2Salisbury189,24015,2058.03
3Shepton4,2303207.57
4Southampton64,3004,3256.73
5Harrogate84,1705,5656.61
6Stockport110,8506,8206.15
7Portsmouth67,6604,0105.93
8Epsom158,4109,2905.86
9Yeovil66,4503,7005.57
10Shrewsbury149,3908,2555.53

At the other end of the scale,  Bradford, Maidstone, Scarborough, and Skelmersdale among the least accident-prone, with Newcastle upon Tyne having the lowest rate of broken bone cases at 0.41 percent.

This study gathered NHS data on A&E attendance numbers and types of reported injuries for 2022-2023 (the latest data by NHS). 

To derive at these figures, the insurance-based research team at Injury Claims, a personal injury company, analysed the latest NHS data on total hospital admissions and occurrence types to determine the U.K. regions most vulnerable to bone fractures. In tallying cities from most to least accident-prone, the team looked at emergency hospital visits in each city and calculated what percentage of these were for fractures.

As to the most common type of injury, radius fractures top the list of the most common type of fractures, with 130,152 reported cases, followed by finger phalanx fractures at 89,267, and foot fractures at 77,129. Most distal radius fractures take 3 months or so to heal before a person is able to return to all activities.

As to the most vulnerable time of year, spring is the ideal time for enjoying outdoor activities, but higher activity levels also mean a higher risk of bone fractures.

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Written By

Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.

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