Many children received a trampoline for Christmas and several injuries resulting from playing on the trampoline have already been seen in the Division of Orthopedics at Nemours Children’s Clinic Pensacola. Using a trampoline for the most part is largely fun, but it can be very dangerous.
Robert Stanton, MD, Chief of Pediatric Orthopedics at Nemours Children’s Clinic of Florida in Pensacola, advises parents not to own a trampoline at all. “If there is a trampoline at the home,” Dr. Stanton cautions, “no one under age six should be allowed to use it and only one jumper should use the trampoline at any given time. This is because most trampoline injuries result when older children bounce younger children around and off the trampoline.”
Serious injuries resulting from the use of a trampoline include: broken necks, spinal cord injuries, and disabling head traumas, many of which result in permanent paralysis as well as potential death. Less serious injuries may include: broken bones, such as legs, arms, and other parts of the body, as well as different types of dislocations and muscle damage.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, hospital emergency room-treated trampoline injuries have almost tripled in the last decade. Most trips to the emergency room are the result of jumpers colliding with one another, falling on the trampoline springs or frame, falling or jumping off the trampoline, or attempting somersaults and stunts.
Nemours provides these tips to help prevent trampoline injuries:
Trampolines should not be used except when there is adequately trained supervision for the recreational activity.
Trampolines should only be used in well-lighted areas.
Children should never be allowed to jump onto the trampoline from high objects.
The trampoline-jumping surface should be placed at ground level.
The supporting bars, strings and surrounding landing surfaces should have adequate protective padding.
Somersaults and high-risk maneuvers should be avoided without proper supervision and instruction; these maneuvers should be done only with proper use of protective equipment, such as a harness.
Netting now available around the perimeter of trampolines has been shown to reduce the number of injuries from falls off the trampoline but should only be used with the following warnings- Netting is not:
A substitute for adequate adult supervision
A tool to reduce or eliminate crippling injuries and death.
Other activity safety tips and related articles for children can be found on www.Kidshealth.org: