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Nearly 100,000 were injured on trampolines in 2009, the last year for which there is complete data, pediatricians warn.
Trampolines are too dangerous for children to use, the American Academy of Pediatrics said Monday. Citing nearly 100,000 injuries in 2009, the academy issued the warning in a statement published in Pediatrics and noted that the safety nets added in recent years don’t make much of a difference.
That makes a lot of sense to Carolyn Prouty.
Prouty will never forget the day, eight years ago, she saw her 8-year-old daughter Destini bounce off the backyard trampoline and land hard on her head and neck. Prouty rushed over to find her daughter in excruciating pain, arms numb.
“My first response was that she was going to be paralyzed, seeing how she landed,” said Prouty, a nurse from Spokane, Wash.
Destini was airlifted to the hospital where doctors determined that she hadn’t broken anything, but had sustained a concussion and a strained neck. But that was enough for Prouty. “It was a big relief to know that she was fine, but I got rid of the trampoline,” she said.
Destini had been showing her mom gymnastics moves she’d been practicing when the accident happened. Like many parents, Prouty had assumed that as long as her daughter followed general safety rules such as only one child on the trampoline at a time, Destini would be fine. But even when safety precautions are taken, trampolines can still be dangerous, said Dr. Michele LaBotz, a lead author of the new AAP statement and a sports medicine physician at Intermed Sports Medicine in Portland, Me.
And attempts by the trampoline industry to make things safer, like the addition of nets, don’t seem to have made much difference, LaBotz said. They do, however, tend to lull parents into a false sense of security.
“Pediatricians need to actively discourage recreational trampoline use,” said LaBotz, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics executive council on sports medicine and fitness. “This is not a toy. It’s a piece of equipment. We recommend that you not provide it for your family or your neighbors to use. But if you do use one, you need to be aware of the risks.”
Parents mistakenly see trampolines as benign playthings, LaBotz said.
“I think parents see the soft springy mat and they think it’s safe, like water,” LaBotz said. “What they don’t realize is that once you get it to bouncing, especially if there are multiple users, it can be dangerous. Bigger kids and adults like to rocket propel up the little kids, getting them to bounce higher than they would otherwise and if the kid comes down wrong, it is the same as falling 9 or 10 feet onto a hard surface.”
In fact, data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System show that most – 75 percent – of trampoline injuries occur when multiple people are jumping on the mat. In those cases, the smaller child was 14 times as likely as a larger one to be injured.
That’s how Brooke Carlson’s 12-year-old son Clay broke his hand five years ago on a friend’s trampoline. It all happened so quickly, said Carlson, a horse trainer from Morgan Hill, Calif.
“He was only there 15 or 20 minutes jumping on the trampoline with his brother and two friends,” Carlson said. “I thought they were pretty safe.”
Carlson had planned on buying a trampoline herself until the accident. “After this I was scared that somebody would get hurt on it,” she said.
The NEISS data showed that the youngest kids are at greatest risk for significant injury, including fractures of the legs and spine. Studies have shown that children younger than 6 years old accounted for 22 to 37 percent of all those turning up in the emergency room for evaluation. And NEISS data show that 29 percent of injuries in kids ages 6 to 17 were fractures or dislocations, as compared with 48 percent in kids 5 years and younger.
Among the most common injuries in all age groups, include sprains, strains and contusions. Falls from the trampoline accounted for 37 to 39 percent of all injuries and can be potentially catastrophic, the authors reported. Especially frightening was one study cited by LaBotz and her colleagues that found that 1 in 200 trampoline injuries resulted in some sort of permanent neurologic damage.
In LaBotz’s experience, even after a kid has an accident, parents will often continue to let them use the trampoline. “There are a number of families, even those with kids who have had significant injuries, who decide they still want the trampoline as part of what they offer to their children,” LaBotz said.
That doesn’t surprise Dr. Barbara A. Gaines, director of trauma and injury prevention at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
“This is something kids really like,” Gaines said. “It’s fun and it’s something you can do in your backyard. It doesn’t have a motor attached. And all of that give parents a false sense of security, especially when you add in safety devices like nets. But this statement is highlighting the fact that there are no data showing that they make it any safer.”
Given that many parents probably won’t be willing to give up the trampoline in their backyard, Gaines commends the AAP for also providing a list of safety measures for people who do continue to use the equipment.
Ultimately, the most important thing is for parents to recognize the danger.
“When individual families come in with an injured child, it seems to them to be like one of those freak things,” Gaines said. “Everything was fine and then all of a sudden something happened.
“But these are not just accidents. There is a pattern to them and there’s something we can do to prevent them. It’s not that we don’t want kids to have fun. But injury shouldn’t be an expected part of childhood."
The report includes key recommendations for pediatricians and parents, including:
- Trampolines should be set at ground level whenever possible or on a level surface and in areas cleared of any surrounding hazards.
- Active supervision by adults familiar with the recommendations should occur at all times. Supervising adults should be willing and able to enforce these guidelines. Mere presence of an adult is not sufficient.
- Pediatricians should advise parents and children against recreational trampoline use. Netting and other safety equipment doesn't help reduce injury rates.
- Failed attempts at somersaults and flips frequently cause cervical spine injuries and can result in permanent and devastating consequences.
- Homeowners with a trampoline should verify that their insurance covers trampoline injury-related claims.
- At trampoline parks, remember that their rules and regulations may not be consistent with the AAP guidelines.
- Trampolines used for a structured sports training program should always have appropriate supervision, coaching and safety measures in place.
Click for the complete report on trampoline safety in childhood and adolescence
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Sit around. Get fat.
I'm on the side of the "No's".......no trampoline. In the '70's a student at our local high school was on his trampoline and when he landed he injured his spine and has been in a wheelchair ever since (as far as I know). I'll bet this young man has wished many a time that he had not been on that trampoline. Activity from using the trampoline is just not worth the risk. There are many, many other ways for kids to be active. These doctors are not morons; they know what they are talking about (in my opinion).
Lets just put all the kids in a plastic bubble. Oh wait, plastic causes cancer.......
They said lawn darts were dangerous too, and look what happened with that!
I guess I better start saving up for that bubble my kids are going to have to live in...
I grew up in a generation of no nets required. No car seats, no seat belts worn, no helmets, no nets for trampolines, tackle football in the front yard without pads...etc. So I always chuckle when I see an article like this. Especially love the posts. Great morning humor. Thanks guys.
Good grief society. Let's take all the fun out of childhood, shall we?
Everyone in my town has a trampoline. In the past 30 years, only one child has been injured, and that was just a broken arm. See our parents taught us common sense rules. When there is a little kid on, they need to stay closest to the center. No one else is jumping, and is standing around the sides (though they didn't have to get off) when someone is doing a trick. Don't do the trick if you aren't certain you can do it. It's called common sense. My parents taught us that, and so only one child in thirty years has been injured enough to need medical assistance.
This just in...it's been deemed that bicycles are too dangerous for children. Statistics show that every child, at least once, will fall off their bicycles upon learning how to ride them, often resulting in scrapes and other abrasions on their bodies. The additional risks of riding into stationary objects, possibly being hit by a car, or suffering tantrums when the child cannot gain proper balance on a two-wheeler right away lead professionals to believe that the use of such dangerous objects be issued only to the most experienced riders. Of course, we acknowledge that such a statement is contradictory and completely bogus.
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Ok, let's say sleigh riding is dangerous, I broke my arm once doing that. Broke a tooth when I fell off my bike. My brother broke is jaw wrestling. My sister broke her arm playing basketball. Pleae people. We have become a whiny society. Kids have accidents. My poor mother was always driving us to an appointment for something we did to get hurt. Mom monitored us, but we still got hurt. Now I grew up in the 60's-70's when we were not aware of the dangers of hot slicky slides, swings, skateboards, trampolines, etc...Thank God I grew up when I did. We had fun. If we keep finding things that are dangerous for kids, then the kids will sit inside all day and play video games...wait! That has already happened.
Let kids drink only bottled water, eat only organic foods, and wear only organically grown clothing. Be sure they never ever go outside to play because they may sunburn. Only watch educational tv and never play soldier. Be sure to drive them to school even though you only live a few blocks away. Then watch and wonder why they don't make it out in the "real world".
Want to know what is really bad for children? Stupid parents, or should I say stupid mothers and fathers that don't know crap about being a parent.
On a more serious note...the trampoline in question for Destini's (???) accident was probably one of those wide, high trampolines that most young children need help getting onto in the first place.
"Destini had been showing her mom gymnastics moves she’d been practicing when the accident happened."
Well, obviously you're going to fall off doing things like that!! Trampolines are meant for jumping...NOT for gymnastics tricks and fancy flips. As a child, I owned a trampoline...a very small one...and, granted, I did my fair share of front flips, landing on my butt on the trampoline's surface but at least I had the sense not to overstep my boundaries and attempt to perform a trick that would fly me off the trampoline! With every tool, or toy, comes a specified use. The little drivable cars that children can ride in? They are meant for the driveway or perhaps for driving in a culdesac with parent's supervision...NOT for the middle of the road. When children and their parents begin using toys the right way, injuries will diminish. Unfortunately, there's no cure for stupid. The fear that infects people after accidents happen is sickening...'I got into a car accident, I will never buy a car again'.
stop this, just stop.
Gee, all the kids in my neighborhood had BB-Guns too and all of us still have two eyes. I'm neglecting to mention the one whose eye was poked with a homemade sword. So we weren't perfect!
We need to ban homemade swords immediately!
I have not been on a trampoline in years, I avoid spacewalks too. When I was in high school, we had a spacewalk at a school fair. Of course since it was high school most of the guys in it were older and pushign everyone around. I fell forward into the side wall and hyperextended my back (I was bent backward at the waist) for a moment I couldn't get myself out of that position because everything around me that I tried pushing against would just move, I was finally able to turn over and I immediately got out. I realized that if someone had fallen on me they would have broken my back paralying or killing me.
This article is rediculous. Specifically the part where they say the net doesn't make much of a difference. We've had a trampoline with a net at our house for years. The kids love it and belive me the net makes a HUGE difference !! Personally ive bounced and been saved by the net many times.
Did I grow up with a trampoline? Nope. Grew up falling out of trees, riding horses and bikes, being a tomboy. I had an unfortunate run in with a trampoline in junior high, landed poorly..bounced head first through a spot of broken springs and no pads...split my head open on the exposed frame. Did I blame the trampoline? Nope. It was a stupid move on my part. I've seen the more recent ones with the nets and springs covered and they're much safer but still.....parents, watch your kids. Don't let big ones and little ones bounce together. Don't let them try to reenact stunts they've seen. Common sense is gasping its last breath these days. The worst injury I've ever had? Broke my leg in three places walking down a set of steps. Injuries happen.....kids seem hellbent on destroying themselves (I have a 2 year old and she seems determined to get a Darwin award). You have to watch them. But trying to make them inactive as a way to keep them safe just isn't feasible.
The AAP would have you swaddle your children in a cocoon until the aige of eighteen to avoid all injuries. Human children get hurt while doing their job, exploring their world. In this day and age that requires parental supervision 24/7. If you cannot supervise your children, simply do us a favor and do not have them in the first place.
Wow...thank you pediatricians for warning us about dangers of childhood..
signed : Vaccine induced death, neurological damage, allergies, asthma and autism.
The nurse from Spokane, Washington is a microcephalic mentality airhead bimbo at best. Her nurses training did not do her much good. If I was a Judge I would give her 30 days in county jail and have C. P. S. take away custody of the child for 6 months to one year and/or until she completes parenting classes forthwith. I am not even a nurse or paramedic but did complete an E. M. T. course. So even I know that. To me it correlates to felony child abuse. It is simply too easy to fracture the C. spine and become permanently paralyzed. Foresight is always better than hindsight. Who is going to pay the health care costs? Surely not the parents unless they are millionaire's.
What kind of appropriate supervision is the article referring to? Things happen in a heartbeat, so supervision is impossible. It is the same correlation that it is okay to give toddlers and young children hard candy, popcorn, hot dogs, balloons and losing them through the inhalation thereof. Airway is much smaller in toddlers and children. Or letting your children go play baseball without wearing a helmet or vest protection. A baseball direct hit to the chest can stop the heart forthwith.
Recently in our town on the Canadian border an adult inhaled a piece of hard candy and was deceased forthwith. A close relative of mine got hit in the head with a baseball and suffered with E. seizures thereafter. He was deceased at an early age. What about that circus clown in his 70's who inhaled a balloon a few years back and was deceased in front of hundreds of spectators, all his experience did not do him much good.............
Kids would also be a lot safer if they never left the house, never rode in cars, didn't cross streets, own bikes, skateboards, etc...
All recreation for kids MUST BE STOPPED NOW!!! Please keep our kids safe!
Nice NBC. Let's completely ignore the instructions in every manual for every trampoline and run a picture of more than one person on a trampoline at a time.
All that does is make some kids that see the picture think it is okay. "But the news showed it!"
Thats right continue to turn our children into little pu$$ies. this country is so wrapped up with the fight to allow same sex marriage or not that it really does not matter. we are turning our children into a uni-sex society that soon we wont be able to tell the difference between the sexes of our children anymore.
Don’t they sell nets now to go around Trampolines?