INJURIES
IN SPORTSINJURY
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.
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