Risk taking and injury

We're starting this season by tackling the big topic of risk taking and injury. You'll hear from our expert, emergency department physician Dr Tigue Tozer, who'll take us through why men take more risks, common injuries and how you recover and build your resilience.

You'll also hear from Queensland men, Kai and Jim, who share their stories of sports injury and risk-taking behaviours.

For anyone who has pushed the limits in sports, adventure, work, or just done something plain silly, this episode is for you. We will explain the science and biology behind risk taking and share with you how to train smarter, be safer, and bounce back faster after injury.

Why do young men take more risks? Do expectations of toughness and masculinity lead to risky behaviour? What’s the best way to prevent injuries and recover optimally? How do mental health and resilience factor into risk taking and recovery? Listen to find out.

If you'd like to learn more about men's health, we have a whole season lined up. Make sure you listen to our next episode, where we explore mental fitness and if men can bio hack their brains.

Feel free to leave us a review too—we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Featured in this episode:

Dr Tigue Tozer

Dr Tigue is a Staff Specialist, Emergency Medicine at The Prince Charles Hospital's Emergency Department and a Senior Registrar at the College of Intensive Care Medicine.

He's lived all over the world from the United Kingdom to Sri Lanka, America and now Brisbane, Australia.

As an athlete and physician, Dr Tigue knows a thing or two about injuries. He says it's important to understand your own body so you can work better with what you have. His own experience as a swimmer, boxer, American footballer, rugby player, and state champion discus thrower while in college helped him learn this.

Beau

Host of the podcast, Beau, is a health-conscious marketing and communications worker in his early 30s.

He loves music, movies, food, drink, and sport (well, watching it) and hates misinformation. He's definitely a dog guy but thinks cats are pretty cool, though he believes neither are as cool as our native animals.

Kai

Kai is a 22-year-old student currently doing an honours degree in neuroscience.

His early childhood was spent in Japan, allowing him to be fluent in English and Japanese. He is trying to add French as a third language but 'has a long way to go.'

Kai enjoys staying active with sports such as soccer, tennis, and volleyball. He's recently taken up running, with hopes of doing his first marathon in 2026.

He loves both the cooking and eating aspects of food and has become an avid reviewer of coffee. In his spare moments, he enjoys spending time with his partner and their two dogs.

Jim

Is a 73-year-old media advisor, former daily newspaper journalist, former prawn trawler deckhand, former wharfie, former truck driver, former reserve soldier, former, former, former.

He has kept fit since his early teens and participated in many high-risk activities, including skydiving, scuba diving, alpine mountain climbing, rock climbing and martial arts, and was a wild motorcycle rider for many years.

His frame of reference in terms of personal health philosophy is informed by the example of his father who was an alcoholic. He learned early on what it meant to be addicted and, thanks to the example of his father, was able to get through the Swinging 60s without ever taking a drug, still hasn’t, and is a lifelong teetotaller and non-smoker.

Episode Resources:

Men's Line

MensLine Australia offers free professional 24/7 telephone counselling support for men with concerns about mental health, relationships, anger management, family violence (using and experiencing), stress, and suicidal thoughts.

Call 1300 78 99 78 or visit their online chat and video counselling service for support.

Emergency care in Queensland

If you’re not sure if your medical condition requires emergency care, call 13 HEALTH (13 43 25 84). Registered nurses are available 24 hours a day. They will advise you on what to do and if you need to go to a GP, pharmacy or emergency department.

In an emergency call Triple Zero (000) and ask for an ambulance.

Virtual emergency care is also available in Queensland. Visit our Virtual Emergency Care Service between 8am - 10pm for free specialist emergency care services, by telephone or video conferencing. You can also access the Health Direct symptom checker.

Transcript

Kai: I definitely think that men do take more physical risks.

Jim: I've been a skydiver. a mountain climber. a rock climber. I'm a martial artist. I rode motorcycles.

Tigue: They come in and it's that classical, looks like the movie, blood everywhere nail right through the hand.

Jim: Well, I broke my wrist with a parachute malfunction once.

I've had my face fractured in three places in a martial arts tournament, which left me with permanent eye damage and permanent nerve damage.

Kai: You know, you have to think about the future and think about, yeah, how you're gonna be living in 10 years time.

Beau: Welcome to season three of It Can't Hurt to Ask, the podcast where we dive into all your health and wellbeing, questions and concerns.

I'm Beau and I'll be your host this season, all about men's health.

We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we record. For us, it's Meanjin, land of the Yuggera and Turrbal people.

Today we're tackling risk taking and injuries for all those who have pushed the limits in sport, adventure, or work, or maybe just done something a bit silly.

Our expert, Dr. Tigue Tozer, will show you how to be smarter, safer, and even bounce back faster.

Dr. Tigue is a staff specialist at the Emergency Department of the Prince Charles Hospital and has a lot of experience in the area. So we'll be talking about why guys take risks, common injuries, and how to recover and even build your resilience.

We'll also tell you where to go for more information or for help.

Thanks so much for joining us, Tigue.

Tigue: Oh, thank you.

Beau: With injuries, something that like I think we all know a little bit, is that young fellas are more likely to take risks. Is that true? And what? What's the deal with that?

Tigue: Well, look, statistically speaking, you are correct and I think that's not gonna be a surprise to anyone that young men have a propensity to at times, get themselves into trouble.

And unfortunately, that trouble can lead to injuries or illness. If we actually break that down and take a step back, I think there's multiple factors that make young men, slightly higher risk of those kinds of activities. Biologically speaking, there's no surprise why insurance companies give you a big reduction in your premiums at the age of 25.

Tigue: Science knows unequivocally that around the age of 20 to mid twenties really is when the brain, the prefrontal cortex, so the little bit behind the forehead that makes you think, reason, consider, and can weigh up risks. That doesn't stop growing and maturing till about that period. So young people are more likely to take risks because they're more prone to care what their friends think, to not be able to weigh up risk versus benefits and are more prone to be impulsive.

Now if you couple that with testosterone, which is raging after that prepubescent stage, up until that point as well, which we know increases aggression, increases impulsivity, makes you more socially aware. That together, biologically speaking, makes young men at higher risk of undertaking activities that if you step back and look at it and say, Hey, what's the risk benefit here?

With a rational mind you say, whoa, whoa. The risks are much greater than the benefit. That doesn't happen with young men. So biologically they're far more prone to that. psychologically young people really care what their friends think.

Mom and dad are always gonna be mom and dad. Right? But they're friends and that social status, that social network really impacts on them. So they're again, more prone to do activities that are more likely to have high reward, but that's coupled with high risk, right? He jumped off that, cliff at 30 meters into the water, everyone was doing 10.

Wow. He's really cool. And you feel that in that moment, oh man, a adrenaline surge that rush. All my friends are really happy. Everyone's talking about it at school. it kind of draws people in. And then I think if you add cultural, right for men in Australia, it's actually quite hard. You are supposed to be strong, you're supposed to be independent, but you're also supposed to be easygoing.

That classic Australian, like larrakin is what you guys call it.

Beau: Yes. Yeah.

Tigue: Right. It's easygoing, strong. Be eccentric, sports playing and a little bit of gambling on the side. Yeah. Now we all have great friends with that. They have big social networks, but in reality, that probably causes isolation because you're pressured to be that kind of a person.

And if you're that kind of a person, that person doesn't come to you and say, Beau, look, I'm having a hard day today. I'm feeling a bit flat. Can we talk about it? No, that's, Hey, I'm gonna swallow it. Maybe I'll start drinking to suppress it. Or maybe I'm gonna do something that in that moment will make me feel good.

So I think there's multiple factors that in young males increases their risk of doing things where they just don't see the consequences or even the short term ramifications of their activities. And that's really, really troublesome and it's one of those components that often invariably just leads to injuries that we see.

Beau: Yeah. I think it's funny though, 'cause when you talk about biologically, you don't actually have everything to work with, which feels weird. Especially talking to younger guys. It's tough to sort of get that across because the only way you get that is life experience and that part of your brain is developing.

Tigue: So that is the classic Dunning-Kruger effect. Right? Right. So Dunning Kruger, renowned researchers, looked into this component of most often when you know the least, is when you take the most risk. Because you don't understand, what you don't know.

You are overconfident in either your abilities or minimizing the risks because of your lack of information. And in young people, that's life experience, If you've grown up through depressions, hardships, booms and busts as you get older, that adds to your repertoire of experiences you can draw upon to then weigh up the cost benefit,

when it comes to risk, not all risk is bad. There's positive risks. Say it's really expensive to buy a house, right? But that's a good risk. That's an adaptive risk. But, being at a concert, seeing a pill on the ground saying, oh, I wonder what that is, and just popping it in. Right. That's maladaptive.

That's on the other side of things. Yes. young people just don't have the context in life to then apply. So when you gotta talk to them about it, they're like, oh no, it's fine driving. But we talked about it. It's like, oh, I've been driving for 20, 30 years.

I've only had my P plates for what? I think it's a year. But they are screaming down the motorway. And when you talk about them about it, Whatcha are talking about. I'm a great driver. I can predict things.

I can see things. Yeah. But with 20, 30 years of driving behind your belt, you're like, no, you, you can't. Yeah. You don't understand what can happen.

Beau: Let's hear from Jim, who has done a lot of risky things in his life and, uh, sometimes suffered the consequences.

Jim: I'm Jim and I'm 73 and a half years old.

I've done a lot of things that have been physically risky. I've been a skydiver, I've been a mountain climber. I've been a rock climber. I'm a martial artist. I rode motorcycles for 12 years. I'm a deep sea diver.

Well, I broke my wrist with a parachute malfunction once, many, many years ago.I've had many cuts and abrasions as a result of motorcycle accidents, and, uh, I've had my face fractured in three places in a martial arts tournament, which left me with permanent eye damage and permanent nerve damage.

Well, I'd say be mindful of the level of risk you are engaging in and plan your activities carefully so you can minimize that risk. I wouldn't recommend people that take no risks at all. That's part of life. Life is risk taking.

Beau: So Tigue. I'm sure everyone listening is wondering the same thing. doctors tend to have some pretty awesome stories. You see a lot of, wild things in your department. Can you talk to me a bit about, what the most exciting part or most rewarding part of your day is, and perhaps some of the most ridiculous things you've seen are?

Tigue: So I think there's two ways of answering that. I'd say exciting moments of our life is often when you feel a tangible change in somebody. Some of the wildest things that we see are more the things that we can fix quickly. Somebody's dislocated their shoulder, right? That's quite quick, and they go back to feeling normal.

When it comes to injury spaces, I'd say workplace injuries where somebody, and this happens a lot, ends up having a nail through some appendage. Leg, hand is notorious and they come in and it's that classical, looks like the movie, blood everywhere nail right through the hand. And they've always tried to remove it and they can't do anything and it hurts.

So often we get them in, get an X-ray or two because the big thing is nails fine. 'cause often they're clean. It's do they have the tetanus and have they hurt a bone? Because if you think of the bone, it's like a sponge. The moment a sponge has a bit of oil in it, you can wash it all you want, but really you can't get that residue out.

the bone has a matrix like that. So unless we keep it clean, once infection gets into the bone, it is so hard to get out. So as long as the bone's fine, it's often fun. Put a bit of local anesthetic, numb up the hand, and Bob's your uncle, it's gone, and suddenly they're back to square one. So those are some of the things that are, while they're really in your face, the satisfaction for us comes back is you see a tangible and meaningful outcome.

Beau: Quick trivia break. What causes the most injury hospitalizations in Australia? Find out later in this episode,

Tigue, I think we all know that if we're under the influence, we're more prone to doing something silly or downright stupid. From your experience, how big of a role does that play in risk taking an injury?

Tigue: Look Beau, that's a good question and I think to be really straightforward, there is an incredibly strong correlation between drugs and alcohol and risk-taking behavior.

What I mean by that is the more people are exposed to drugs ... alcohol, the more likely they are to take more and more risk. And it often interplays on each other as whereas they take more risk and therefore they're more likely to do other drugs or drink more.

If we break it down, and we talked about a bit earlier, young people, and men especially are more likely to be risk takers for all those reasons. Mm-hmm. If you just talk about how alcohol, specifically, works on the brain, right? We know it lowers inhibitions. It makes you more impulsive the more you drink, then you lose those fine motor skills of coordination, balance.

We've all seen a friend throw a ball to a friend who's had a couple too much and they, they're scrambling whereas there were always the best catcher on the pitch, right? So that reflexes and reaction timing is lost. So then you have somebody who is unable to weigh up the risks, who's more likely to be pressured into it, or more likely to be impulsive in their actions, and then they have a physical barrier.

Beau: Mm-hmm.

Tigue: That minimizes their ability to react to the world around them. That in itself is a recipe for disaster. You see it all the time. I've seen that happen. I know that happens. Of course. That makes totally sense. Oh, but not me.

Beau: Let's hear from a young Queenslander.

Kai: Hi, I'm Kai. I'm 22. I've had quite a few injuries as a result of sport. I think one of the biggest ones, it wasn't really an acute injury, but playing a lot of volleyball and not taking the precautions of stretching and strength training and everything. I've really hurt my shoulder and even after seven years or so of not playing volleyball anymore. It's still giving me a lot of problems.

Tigue: Firstly, I'm sorry for that. That's frustrating. Part of injuries and also chronic illness, it takes a huge impact in people's lives and often people who are previously very fit and active. you're used to that mentality.

So when you are faced with something that ends up being chronic, chronic shoulder pain, diabetes, things like that. It is incredibly frustrating to have to deal with that in and out, and that's very challenging

Beau: So Teague, what preventative or medical or recovery advice would you have for someone in Kai's position?

Tigue: When we talk about injuries, there are things you can do at the time, so importantly it's tend to the injury. Do what needs to be done in order to allow yourself to fully recover. Then my question to you is gonna be okay, what factors led to the injury in the first place? Was it because accidents happen? Right? I was running down the pitch and 500 kilo chap from the other side caught me from the wrong angle.

And there's nothing you could have done to, to prevent that or it's, I wasn't training holistically. I thought I could just keep doing the same thing because I was very good at it from the start. But then as I progressed, became more experienced or went up in the ranks, the same thing didn't change, that repetitive use led to that injury.

So the question then is, okay, how do I train smart? I personally had an issue when I was younger, so I was a. the discus champion for the State of Maryland, in the United States. So throw a very heavy piece of metal very far. Nice. Now I'm six five, but back in the day I was 92 kilos, I didn't wanna lose my speed to put on the bulk that all, Olympic discus throwers have, they're much bigger than I am.

So I used to inappropriately lift heavy, and until I tweaked something, and that took me back quite a lot. Mm-hmm. And I had to actually grow up and say, why did this happen? Initially it was that frustration, stupid weight, blah, blah, blah. But actually I was pushing it too hard.

So that's what I'm talking about as part of the injury is how do I rectify it? resting it, icing it after 48 hours, heating it, starting to see a physio, strapping it, but then taking a step back and saying, okay, why did this injury happen to me in the first place?

And what in that do I have the control over?

Beau: Yeah. That's interesting. I think especially with all the things we know or we're learning through modern exercise science

Tigue: Oh yeah.

Beau: And stuff like that, it's a big deal to adapt your training or to be training the right way. And that's where I guess, a sports scientist or a professional coach might help because they can give you that insight.

Tigue: You're obviously went down that route and it worked out. Yeah, I think I got lucky. I've always had a very inquisitive brain. Um, but you're right in the saying that nowadays there's so much more information out there, you can get online right? I love physiotherapists. I think Australia was one of the first countries to really embrace physiotherapy. I'm a strong advocate of that. Post-injury or even pre-injury, when you start noticing things are going out. A good example is often people come in with back pain, but they don't realize the back pain is because their knees aren't strong enough.

So their gait is altered, and where does the pressure point lead? It's the low back. So seeing a physiotherapist, measuring those factors actually, hey, do X, Y, and Z exercises. Do this. Now, I understand physiotherapy is a luxury. If you don't have that ability to access a physiotherapist, there's a wealth of information online where you can talk about, hey, I play this sport what are some sport-specific exercises I should do? What are some balance-specific exercises I can do? And then understanding your body and how those exercises can meld in.

Things are so different nowadays, so much easier. I wouldn't be surprised if you put into chat GPT, Hey, I'm a tall, skinny, lanky kid who plays basketball. What exercises can I do to help? Yeah, question mark. And it'll spit out a whole answer there that yeah, often is actually not bad.

Beau: Yeah, it's interesting.

And, and that point you make, you're only as strong as your weakest link. you're always gonna have the weakest link, but you can at least work on that and then the next thing will be the next thing to work on. Exactly. like when I first started going to the gym, I thought there were about five different exercises, then I saw guys doing all different stuff.

Then I realized, oh, there's a reason they're doing that specific movement because they've possibly had an injury or that's gonna stop them having an injury. And it's just kind of blew my mind a bit.

No, completely. Now I might be showing my age here, but it's been a couple of decades since I was in high school and what we had, there were just these free weights and that was it.

Mm-hmm.

Tigue: Then I went to university and in America, I'm sure you've all seen in movies like the gyms are really like that. it's insane the amount of money they put into collegiate, sports. And that kind of broadened my eyes, and they really do focus on recovery. So after each trip, I'd, jump in the ice bath or ice a joint, or make sure I've stretched and warmed up properly.

Then you come into this day and age and every gym has the ability to, do a plethora of things. I think part of why is, having that maturity into yourself and saying, Hey, take it for a second. Like it sucks. This definitely sucks, especially when you have an injury and you feel the weight of that setback.

But it's having that bit to say, okay, I've had this setback. How do I get there? And it's setting those micro goals. it's the things that get you outta bed in the morning. Mm. You know, there's a great, talk on YouTube. I think it was the Marine Corps or US Navy who talked about the first thing he does every morning is make his bed.

Now, I'm not gonna say I make my bed every morning but it's. achieving something that you know you're gonna achieve anyways, setting it as a goal so that you've ticked that off gets you on the next step. Okay, well what's the next thing I can do? Then that goes to the small goals, into the medium, and then to the larger big term of how do I get there?

I think that's one thing especially being young, if you focus on it, kind of helps alleviate that inherent, oh, I can just do this. Which then leads to a cycle of re-injury, more frustration, and then you never get where you want to go because you're stuck in a vicious cycle.

Which is when you're there, it's incredibly hard to see the way out.

Beau: yeah. I think that's one of the hardest things for anyone whether it's sports or exercise to have a period off and see your progress or your ability go down. Oh, yeah. Whether it's enforced with injury or illness or something.

It's psychologically it's, it's very tough you're more likely to jump back into it because you think, oh, I can do this. Yeah. You know, I did this before, and you forget that you have to really start at the bottom or you go for it and hurt yourself. Yeah.

Make the problem worse.

Tigue: Yeah. I think you, you brought up a good point, it reminds me, so there's something I tell my patients in intensive care to do. It's keep a journal. if I went to you and said, Bo, wow, you are so much better this week than you were last week. But you're having a bad day. You're not gonna feel that.

You're gonna think, no, I'm having a terrible day. I can't do something. But if you have in your own words, okay, what did you write you could do last week, right? if you look at what you said, well, I could stand up with one person helping me last week.

Now I can do by myself. I could walk 20 meters before I had to take a break because I got lightheaded. Now I can do 50. Today might be a bad day. But actually in regards to your progress as a whole, you can see that linear progression. And that's the same thing with injuries. Yes, you're gonna go five steps forward they're gonna be days where you'd go three steps backwards.

Beau: Mm.

But if you see that, hey, I'm gonna have those bad days, and I'm just gotta be kind to myself that it's okay to have some bad days, I'm still gonna go forward. Mm-hmm.

Tigue: I think that's one of the hardest things to get people, especially men to break that habit of just blinders on. Just gonna keep going, especially when things are harder.

Beau: And I guess especially when you're talking about a behavior like training, that it is often for people that have done it a long time, it's like, oh, it's just second nature

Tigue: Yeah. Or you see your friends doing and you think, oh, they're doing it, but reality. We talked about earlier, if you are actually honest with each other, hey man, I had a bad day last week. Mm-hmm. Right? And so you can all talk about it and say, actually, yeah, we are gonna have our harder days. So how do we do this as a team or just normalize it's okay to have a bad day.

Beau: Yeah.

On the positive side, can you give us some advice on preventing injuries in the first place?

Tigue: I wish I could give you a specific playbook that would make life so much easier, do x, y, z, it's not gonna happen. I think the biggest advice I could give as someone who has played a ton of sports at a higher level and, now works in the medical profession is take that time to understand you.

Like we talked about with my issue when I was playing discus. I was never going to be the 150 kilo thrower. So I had to be honest Okay, so what are my strengths? My strengths are my height 'cause it gives me length and my speed. So then what are the things that I can do to train my body type to achieve where I want to go?

And I think that's the biggest piece of advice and give somebody as far as preventing injury, it's take the time to understand you, your body type, your unique skillset, and then train around that for the sport that you are undertaking.

You can't have this, everyone does the exact same thing to achieve an outcome.

And then the last bit is be kind. Be kind to yourself and accept you're gonna have hard days.

Beau: Mm-hmm.

Tigue: You're gonna have niggles, you're gonna have injuries. part of that is, hey, my knee is starting to hurt.

I need to rest it, take care of it, recover from it. Maybe take a couple of steps back in order to get where I want to go. Rather than that, no, I'm just being weak. You know, I'm not being good enough. Or look at all my friends. They're better than I am. I need to step up if I'm gonna keep my social status, my ranking, or get where I want to be. so you don't be kind to yourself. So you push through and invariably leads to an injury that that is more challenging to recover from. Prevention comes from understanding yourself and being kind to yourself, I think.

Switching gears a bit, Tigue, how much of an impact would you say mental health has on both the risk taking side or the recovery side

Really good question Beau and it's very complex. A good way, I think to break it down is, there's positive components of your mental health and resilience is one of those.

It's really understanding, hey, how do I approach something and when that thing doesn't go the way I want it to, how do I deal with that? That's resilience.

resilience, allows you to deal with the stresses that life, that injuries throw at you. And rather than allowing those events to define who you are, you learn from those events. And how do you then move forward? And see them in a positive light rather than a negative light.

Tigue: How do I protect myself? And then how do I build forward? So we talked about earlier, the Australian male supposed to be the strong, easygoing, almost laughing at themselves kind of person. That doesn't give you an opportunity to show a little bit of weakness, so that can lead to secret depression.

And then because you're feeling bad in yourself, you're more likely to try to be a bit more assertive or aggressive in yourself because you want to Probably not to others, but to yourself that I can do this. I can show I'm this strong individual, I'm what the culture says I have to be.

Beau: Mm.

Tigue: if you don't have that resilience, you don't have that kindness to yourself and you have a negative approach to your mental health. You are more prone to do things that you never would've done, take risks you never would've taken as you got older, because you fall into the habit of doing the little things that fall into the bigger things, and eventually lead to behaviors like drink driving.

If I'd asked you, six months before you did that, you heard, there's never a chance I would ever get behind the wheel drunk.

Beau: It's something that we're slowly learning more about, slowly making progress, especially on the men's side of things,

Tigue: yeah. It's got a long way

Beau: to go.

Tigue: A hundred percent. we are terrible at it. and I think we definitely agree. We have to normalize it is okay not to be okay.

Beau: Mm-hmm.

Tigue: It's okay to fail. Nike did a great commercial series back, I think it was the nineties, 1990s, with Michael Jordan, and it focused around his failures.

And one is one of the most powerful adverts it's still on YouTube, you can try and look it up, talks about, hey, you think I'm this, but I have failed more than this. I've made, 10, champion winning shots, I've missed 10,000. Mm-hmm. It's okay. Like even somebody that we hold on a pedestal of greatness such as Michael Jordan actually failed far more, but we focus more on the championship rings and success, and we almost ignore the, failure points that actually led him to learn to grow.

To push to become who he became. Yeah.

Beau: Yeah. That human part,

Tigue: it's not superhuman, it's he's just one of us. He just acknowledged that and learn from it in himself. Mm-hmm.

Beau: So Teague, I guess to wrap it up, I'd really love to know if there's one particular thing that you'd like our listeners to take away from today's chat.

Tigue: I'm gonna do this a little bit broadly, if that's okay. Go for it. From the conversation as a whole, let's talk about Injury from an injury perspective.

Prevention is key. Understanding yourself and trying to build towards that and understanding how. to get to a point where you can optimize your, physical prowess, but minimize injury is important. the second component of this is your mental health, and coupling that with mental health.

And the linchpin of that for me is being resilient and being kind to yourself. We're all gonna get hurt. We're all gonna make mistakes. But if we have a positive outlook on that, and if we develop a sense of resilience in ourselves, you're able to then navigate what life throws at you. if you're kind to yourself, you are able to say, hey, it's okay not to be okay at times.

It's also okay for me to say, whoa, that's not a good idea. I am not gonna jump off that 50 meter cliff into the water. That's maybe a little bit too high. So taking that second to understand your body, your limitations, and actually it's okay to be like, ah, sorry guys. Not gonna do that.

is also part of that kind of prevention strategy. But preventative health as well as being resilient and being kind to yourself, are the big take homes for me

Beau: Mm-hmm.

And I love the phrase be kind to yourself.

It's something that. It's easy to forget.

Tigue: Yeah, I think it's the first thing we forget.

Beau: Yeah.

Time for the answer to our trivia question. The highest number of injury hospitalizations were caused by falls. In Australia in 2021 to 22 falls caused over 84,000 cases, or 35% of the total. Injuries in general occur more frequently in men. For every 100 injury hospitalizations in females, there are 118 for males.

Men's risk-taking tendencies may be biologically linked, but understanding them better can help you make smarter choices. So if anything we've talked about here today has sparked a thought or you think you might need to actually get something checked out, if you are concerned about an injury, you should definitely talk to your GP in the first instance.

If your injury is an emergency. You should go to an emergency department or call triple zero and ask for an ambulance. If you're not sure whether your condition is an emergency or not, you can call 13 Health thirteen forty three twenty five eighty four. There, registered nurses are available 24 hours a day and they'll advise you on what to do, and whether you do need to go to a GP or pharmacy or perhaps even go and see Dr. Tigue in the emergency department.

More information is available if you search 'keep emergency for emergencies Queensland Health'.

Please subscribe and review. Many thanks to Dr. Tigue Tozer and the team at Metro North Hospital and Health Service. This podcast was produced by Queensland Health.