The classic backyard entertainment may be more dangerous than assumed warned University of Oklahoma professor of surgery Roxie Albrecht today at a conference focused on trauma and critical care.Her lecture, called “Trampolines are Fun?” explained to surgeons how to treat patients afflicted with a trampoline related injuries.
She said most injuries come from jumping with more than the recommended amount of people on the trampoline. Most trampolines are made for one person.
Albrecht cited research showing children are more likely to get hurt on trampolines in the early evening when guardians are too busy or distracted to watch over them.
“They are more into making dinner and the kids are out on the trampoline trying to hurt themselves,” she said.
Albrecht showed photos from a surgery she performed on a patient whose leg was impaled with a decorative railroad spike after she bounced off a trampoline. She said the patient became a regular patient over the past three years because of continued complications from the injury.
She said safety nets, spring covers and other safety devices have had minimal effects on the number of injuries seen from trampolines. That number hovers around 100,000 hospital visits a year.
However, Albrecht noted that a follow-up survey of parents who took their children to hospitals following a trampoline trip-up showed that all 199 respondents changed their attitude toward trampoline play-time.
Earl Kilbride, an orthopedist speaking after Albrecht, joked that he is not against trampolines because they help his practice stay in business.