INJURY PREVENTION IN CHILDREN ON TRAMPOLINES

INJURIES IN SPORTS

INJURY PREVENTION IN CHILDREN ON TRAMPOLINES

Chaudhry S, Mattam K
Trauma and Orthopaedics Department, Hereford County Hospitals, Hereford, UK

Recent research highlights a dramatic increase in the number of injuries related to the recreational use of trampolines by children. Our aim was to determine the nature of injuries presenting to a typical district general hospital in the UK and the orthopaedic intervention required.
We performed a prospective study of children who attended the emergency department over the summer period May-September 2007 after sustaining a trampoline related injury. Data collection was from case notes and a questionnaire given to parents.
Out of 54 children studied (aged 2-13) , 33/54 (61%) were boys and 21 (39 %) girls. 92%  of trampolines used were between 10-14 feet in size and 90% of injuries occurred in the back garden. Most of the injuries were sustained whilst jumping on the trampoline with more than 1 person 38/54(70.37%). 18(33.33%) of trampolines were enclosed and 37 (68%) of the children were supervised with 70% of parents stating awareness of the dangers. The commonest injury was ankle sprain 12/54(22%). 11 children required admission to hospital and injuries that required further treatment were 5 distal radius fractures and 6 forearm fractures. 7 required manipulation under anaesthesia, 1 required plating, and 2 forearm fractures requiring intra-medullary nailing. There were no deaths, head or spine injuries
Our study shows that although a proportion of children may suffer injuries requiring an operative procedure, better preventative measures such as parent supervision, single person jumping and enclosures appear to have resulted in less severe injuries compared to reports from previous studies.
Key words: trampoline, children, injury prevention.