Trampolines Bounce Kids Into The Hospital

If your kids jump on a trampoline, they may soon be limping into line at the emergency room. A new report reveals that trampolines injure almost 100,000 children a year.

Medical experts estimate that in 2009, the latest year that was measured, there were about 98,000 trampoline-related injuries. That represents 10 trampoline injuries every hour of every day. And 3,100 of those mishaps resulted in hospitalizations. That’s eight kids in the hospital every day because of trampolines.

“The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) strongly discourages use of a home trampoline,” says Susannah Briskin, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “It bears significant injury risk — especially when somersaults are performed or there are multiple jumpers on the mat at one time.”