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AAP: Home trampolines not worth the risk
With 98,000 injuries treated in EDs across the country in 2009, an updated policy statement from the AAP is warning parents about the dangers of owning recreational trampolines.
Michele LaBotz
The new statement is an update to the 1999 recommendations, which were first drafted in 1977. In 2009 alone, an estimated 3,100 children sustained an injury on a trampoline that required hospital admission, but “there were far more ED visits,” Michele LaBotz, MD, FAAP, co-author of the updated policy statement, told Infectious Diseases in Children.
In this statement, officials with the AAP said fall off the trampoline accounted for 27% to 39% of all injuries, and falls on the trampoline mat represent more than half of all injuries. The risk for injury is even greater when two children of different ages are playing on the trampoline together, according to the AAP statement.
Of the entire trampoline injuries reported, 0.5% resulted in permanent neurologic damage, the researchers said.
In the statement, the AAP urged pediatricians to discuss trampoline play with parents and recommended counseling them about whether their insurance covers trampoline injury-related claims. The statement also urged parents to have appropriate supervision for those children who use trampolines for sports training.
“Pediatricians need to actively discourage recreational trampoline use,” LaBotz said in a press release. “Families need to know that many injuries — 75% — occur on the mat itself, and current data do not appear to demonstrate that netting or padding significantly decrease the risk of injury.”
Disclosure: LaBotz reports no relevant financial disclosures.
Disclosure: Dr. Labotz reports no relevant financial disclosures.