[Accidents and injuries in hanggliding].

Between January 1987 and December 1988 36 patients with injuries resulting from hanggliding were admitted to the Interlaken hospital. 6 (17%) of them were women. 14 patients were between 20-30 years old. 24 patients presented injuries of the lower limb, in 10 cases the spine was affected. From the total 39 injuries 20 had to been treated by operation. The accidents occur equally while starting or landing, during the flight incidents are very rare. The majority of the patients had only little experience in hanggliding or underwent insufficient training, indicating the most important point to be dealt with in the future.