What’s a nightmare to put on, and is injuring more women than men in the bedroom?
That’s right, the dreaded fitted sheet.
Making a bed, for many, is the bane of household duties. It's a job that's widely detested, for some, due to the difficult nature of fitted sheets.
Its main task is to "fit", and yet it does anything but, as a recent story by Fair Go found.
Now there’s data to prove it’s not only hurting us mentally, but physically too.
In 2021 alone there were 59 ACC claims made for injuries related to fitted sheets.
ACC data dating back to January 1 2017 showed 220 claims had been lodged with fitted sheets in the accident description.
The most common diagnosis for injury were soft tissue injuries, at 55 claims in 2021.
Fair Go: Why are fitted sheets so hard to fit?
Back and spine areas were the most common injury sites for every year dating back to 2017.
Kaitlin Ruddock let the Kiwi public battle with a tricky sheet to find out. (Source: Fair Go)
In every year of calibrated data, women were also over-represented. In 2021, 48 of the 55 claims were women.
Back in 2017, women made up 41 of the 49 claims.
Last year saw the highest amount of active claim costs since 2017, at $56,087.
James Whitaker, ACC injury prevention lead told 1News over a third of injuries happened in the home.
“Along with cutting corners with our hospital tucks or trying to remove an avocado stone there are many ways New Zealanders get injured at home," Whitaker said.
“On average two in every 10 New Zealanders will injure themselves at home in any given year, making it the most common place for injuries to occur. The most common cause of injuries is falls, especially for our little ones aged 0-9.
“We encourage all New Zealanders to take the time to ‘have a hmmm’ – to think things through before they get stuck in, then choose to do things safely.”
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