Bizarre medical diagnoses that sent Americans for help last year

Nasty chickens, cranky horses, and contact with swords and daggers make the list of odd injuries that sent Americans in search of medical care last year.

Doctors must list every condition they treat using one or more of the multi-digit codes on the medical diagnosis classification list developed by the World Health Organization. Amino, a San Francisco-based company that analyzes health care data, took a deeper dive into nine billion insurance claims to come up with some surprising and offbeat observations.

In 2016, it found 17,200 patients were treated after they walked into a wall; 25,500 people were injured after they wandered into furniture, and 400 sought medical care after strolling into a lamppost. No mention was made of how these injuries came about or if, as we strongly suspect, cellphone use was involved.

Accidents happen, as the saying goes. So it shouldn't be that unusual that 10,600 patients reported being accidentally bitten by another person; 8,700 reported they were accidentally kicked by another person; and 1,800 claimed they were accidentally scratched by another person. That is a lot of accidents.

Also on the list, 1,300 patients reported getting crushed, pushed, or stepped on by a crowd or human stampede.

You might expect that 529,000 patients would be bitten or stung by nonvenomous insects and other arthropods. That 162,100 people were diagnosed with a dog bite is also not a surprise.

But then the data get interesting.

There were 1,700 people who were struck by a cow; 700 were bit by a horse; 300 were bit by pigs, and 200 struck by chickens.

And Game of Thrones fans will like this. Six hundred people reported injuries after they had "contact with a sword or dagger."

Keeping with the television theme, Home Improvement fans will sympathize with those patients who reported injuries from tools. For this group of injuries, 8,900 patients were classified with "contact with workbench tool;" 3,400 had a nasty run-in with a power lawn mower; 2,200 were injured by nail guns, and 300 by mining and earth-drilling machinery.