But that doesn't mean parents shouldn't let kids have fun, the researchers say.

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"Participation in these kinds of activities is important for the development of a child's physical and social skills. We don't want to take away from that at all," says lead study author Dr. John M. Purvis, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical School.

He says the study should serve as a heads-up to parents -- a warning that supervision, well-designed equipment and a little caution are important when kids are being kids.

For instance, Purvis suggests keeping kids from chewing gum while playing basketball. Apparently lots of kids get it stuck in their windpipes.

Using data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the study examined 2.2 million mishaps that landed their victims, ages 5 to 14, in emergency rooms, doctors' offices and clinics last year.

Bicycles were involved in the most mishaps, with 415,000 in the year 2000, the study says. Rounding out the top producers of broken and dislocated bones and bruised limbs are playgrounds, soccer, baseball/softball and trampolines. Details were presented at a recent meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

To keep kids safe, Purvis suggests parents:

• Make sure all bike riders wear helmets, understand traffic rules and stay off roads at night.
• Dress basketball players in well-laced, appropriate shoes with good traction and discourage wearing jewellery.
• Have a doctor check any child who wants to participate in football. Some deaths in the sport have been linked to previously unrecognized heart ailments.
• Make sure all roller-bladers, skateboarders and scooter riders wear helmets as well as wrist and knee protectors.
• Encourage your community to replace old, outdated playground equipment and make playground surfaces shock absorbing. Most playground accidents happen when kids fall.
• Protect the leg bones of soccer players with shin guards.
• Make sure all goal posts are securely fastened and uprights are padded.
• Encourage the use of breakaway baseball bases which reduce accidents when kids slide into them.
• Make all catchers wear face masks and batters wear helmets with face guards. And discourage young pitchers from throwing more than 200 pitches a week.
• Just say no to trampolines. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the orthopaedic surgeons' group say they can't be made safe at home or at school.

Still, all the common-sense advice in the world won't eliminate all bruises and breaks. Some kids are simply accident prone, says David C. Schwebel, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"It isn't a coincidence, and it's not because their bones are weaker," Schwebel says. "Personality and temperament are major contributors. Certain children are more impulsive than others, and that plays a big part in why they have more accidents." Schwebel says his research suggests that while teaching such kids to stop and think before they leap may help, that's easier said than done.

"Impulsivity is relatively stable throughout life," he says. "An impulsive infant tends to grow up to be an impulsive adult."

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