As the summer winds down, sales on backyard toys may have you considering a trampoline for your home.
Though you may think of trampolines as a means of getting your kids outdoors and exercising, they aren’t without potentially significant risks.
In 2015, Albertan children visited emergency departments (EDs) more than 1,620 times for injuries they got using trampolines. On average, that’s more than four kids, every day, who ended up in Alberta’s EDs, due to trampoline use.
And unfortunately, we’re not just talking a wee scratch or two:
- Almost 20 per cent of these kids had dislocated ankles or feet, 18 per cent had fractures in their legs, 21 per cent had fractures in their shoulders, elbow or arms, and 140 sustained injuries to the head or neck.
- In fact, from April to September 2015 alone, every second day, an Albertan child was injured so severely on a trampoline as to require admission to a hospital.That’s a lot of ouch for the bounce.
If you’re thinking that safety nets, most often sold with trampolines to prevent people from falling off, will reduce this risk, consider this: fewer than 30 per cent of trampoline injuries are caused by falling off the tramp. Simply, the risk of the trampoline is the use of the trampoline at all.
Alberta Health Services wants you and your kids to stay safe. Keep the trampolines out of your backyard, and keep your family out of the hospital.
For more information on injury prevention at play and at home, visit www.ahs.ca/injuryprevention.asp
~ Alberta Health Services