Inexperienced boat drivers also contribute to many injuries, according to Letts. Water tubing mishaps also can happen when an inner tube comes loose from the tow rope or explodes. Safety guidelines for water tubing equipment might make the sport safer, Letts says, but there are currently no equipment standards. Although there are several commercial water tubes on the market, many people use homemade water tubes or rubber rafts. Most water tubing injuries are musculoskeletal in nature, says Howard Backer, MD, emergency and sports medicine physician with the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group in Hayward and Walnut Creek, California.
Backer attributes some injuries to the way individuals sit on the tube.
When the rider is seated, the physes of the distal femur and proximal tibia are vulnerable when the knee receives a direct blow. The combinations create the possibility of serious orthopedic injury. Internal injuries, such as abdominal trauma, can also occur. Backer says that some water tubing accidents involve small children, who are perhaps too young to water ski. Not wearing a life jacket poses an additional risk of drowning.