Trampolines and backyard safety

We may find video clips of trampoline mishaps amusing, but we need to understand the potential risk that the backyard equipment presents.  The trampoline industry says sales of backyard trampolines have soared, with more than 1 million now sold every year.  

Jumping on a trampoline can cause serious spinal injuries, in particular injury of the cervical (neck) spine.  The risk of injury is so significant that Marc Rabinoff, a trampoline safety expert and professor in the Department of Human Performance and Sport at Metropolitan State College in Denver, labeled trampolines "quad machines", because they can make you a quadriplegic in four seconds.  

Trampoline jumping poses a high risk of injury for both children and adults. Falling off a trampoline or using a trampoline incorrectly can result in strains, sprains, fractures and other injuries, including potentially serious head and neck injuries. In 2011 alone, an estimated 98,000 people were treated in emergency rooms for trampoline-related injuries; 82 percent were children under the age of 15. 

The risk of injury is so high that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says trampolines should never be used at home or in outdoor playgrounds. The AAP supports limited use of trampolines in supervised training programs, such as gymnastics and diving classes. Even then, strict safety guidelines must be followed.  Warnings on trampolines say no flips, no jumpers younger than 6 years of age, and only one jumper at a time, but those warnings are often ignored.  Jumping with more than one person on the trampoline is when most of the more serious injuries occur.  

Multiple jumpers on a trampoline can, at the least, cause less-skilled jumpers to be propelled at unplanned angles, resulting in collisions and misplaced landings.

A trampoline fracture is a fracture of the tibia (shin bone) occurring in children while jumping on a trampoline (or inflatable castle). This fracture was first described in medical literature in 1986.  The fracture occurs when a second, usually heavier individual causes the jumping surface to recoil upward as the unsuspecting victim is descending.  The excessive load of the recoil is thought to produce the characteristic fracture, which is most often seen in children 2 to 5 years of age. This fracture has also been observed when a child is jumping on a bunk-bed mattress and another child pushes up on the mattress from the bunk below. Fortunately, this injury is not particularly common; nonetheless, allowing kids of all ages and weights to jump together is not a good practice.

Even when adults are present there seems to be a lack of knowledge about this type of injury and little intervention by the adults.   I have seen at functions such as birthday parties where multiple children of varying sizes were jumping at once, especially on the popular blow-up play gyms people often rent for the day. 

The industry states that 50 percent of injuries can be avoided with netting, but they still sell trampolines without nets.  Moreover, a net does not protect participants from the recoil injuries that occur with multiple simultaneous users of different weights. Current guidelines are clear that more than one user on a trampoline at a time is a risk factor for serious injury; however, the majority of injuries still happen in this scenario. 

Be safe with your backyard, summer activities.  There is no substitute for common sense.

For your better health,

Dr. Heller