Go through any neighborhood in South Florida and you’re bound to see trampolines in the back yards of many houses. What you don’t commonly think about when seeing these trampolines are the dangers that accompany them.
According to NBC News, there were about 100,000 injuries reported in 2009. Because of all of these injuries, officials with the American Academy of Pediatrics recently issued a warning to parents and caregivers asking them to get rid of them. This even counts for the ones that come with the safety net surrounding — those are no safer! The only thing that these nets do for owners of trampolines is provide them with a false sense of security. The truth of the matter is that they’re no safer than the ones without them.
“Pediatricians need to actively discourage recreational trampoline use,” said LaBotz with the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Our Palm Beach child injury attorneys understand that these trampolines are a piece of equipment — not a toy! While officials are urging parents and caregivers to discard these devices, we understand that many will not. That’s why we’re here to help you to be aware of the risks and to urge you to take the proper safety precautions to help to reduce your risks for an accident.
According to National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, about 75 percent of injuries that happen on trampolines happen when there is more than one person jumping on it at a time. In these cases, it’s the smaller person who is jumping that is likely to be injured.
As a matter of fact, the young the child is the higher their risks are for an injury. Many of these injuries happen to the legs and spine and are most commonly fractures. For kids under the age of 6, close to 40 percent of the injuries that were taken to the emergency room were fractures.
When you take all age groups into account, sprains, contusions and sprains were the most common kinds of injuries. They actually accounted for about 40 percent of all trampoline injuries. They’re so bad though, that about 1 out of every 200 trampoline injuries results in some kind of permanent neurological damage.
Trampoline Safety Tips:
-Always keep them at ground level when possible. If a fall happens, you want it to be as short of a fall as possible.
-Avoid doing flips. When flips fail, your risks for a cervical spine injury skyrocket! Many of these kinds of injuries can result in permanent damage.
-Always supervise young children. This means to actually watch them and not to just stand close by.
-Don’t let outer netting substitute for adult supervision.
-Only allow one person to jump at a time.
-Clear the area around a trampoline.
-Trampolines that are used for a structured sports training program should always have appropriate supervision, coaching and safety measures.
If you or your child has been injured, contact the personal injury attorneys at Freeman, Mallard, Sharp & Gonzalez, LLC. Call for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights at 1-800-561-7777.
Additional Resources:
Trampolines are no place for kids, docs warn, by Linda Carroll, NBC News
More Blog Entries:
Broward Traffic Safety: Protecting Children Near Our Roadways, South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, September 28, 2012
Check CPSC Recall List – Reduce Child Injury Risks in Broward County, South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, September 20, 2012