HOSPITAL admissions for sports injuries, alcohol-related falls, and other traumas have plunged as the Covid pandemic saw more people stay at home.
A study of orthopaedic trauma cases in Edinburgh, published in online journal Bone Joint Open, compared the 40 days from March 5 - when the UK recorded its first Covid death - with the same period in 2019.
This saw social distancing measures gradually escalated, from advice to avoid pubs to a strict lockdown from March 23.
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Researchers found that there were no admissions at all in the 2020 period for major trauma - where patients have suffered multiple broken bones - compared to 23 in 2019.
There were also no admissions for injuries sustained in violent assaults, compared four during the same period in 2019.
Overall, there were a total of 261 orthopaedic admissions in the 2020 period, compared to 405 in 2019.
This included substantial reductions in alcohol-related admissions - from 44 in 2019 to 13 this year - and motor-vehicle injuries, from 23 to 12.
The number of pedestrians hit by cars halved, from four to two, as did the number of cyclists injured in falls or collisions on the road, down from eight to four.
Sports-related fractures and breaks fell from 28 to three as competitions were called off and leisure venues closed.
Fall injuries were down by 27 per cent overall, with 42 fewer 'fragility fractures' in the elderly - such as broken hips or legs suffered by older people with osteoporisis. However, the researchers stressed that, considered on a daily basis, these admissions "did not differ significantly" from 2019.
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Outpatient referrals for orthopaedic injuries which do not require hospital admission fell by 44%, from 1415 in 2019 to 795, while the number of emergency orthopaedic surgeries performed was down by 36%.
Lead researcher Dr Chloe Scott, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at NHS Lothian and lecturer at Edinburgh University, said: "By staying at home during social distancing, people have helped the NHS not only by preventing the spread of Covid, but also by reducing the number of patients suffering from trauma.
"This has made valuable NHS resources like beds, operating theatres, manpower and PPE available to help Covid patients instead.
"Fragility fractures in the elderly however, for example hip fractures, have continued to occur at their normal rate and services for these patients need to be maintained."
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