There were about 100,000 ER presentations in the US in 2007. These are all preventable accidents. And these accidents happened after considerable work had gone into making trampolines safer.
Safety nets help (many injuries happen when people fall off), but here's a passage describing another method of injury:
> 3.5 If a trampolinist lands on the mat when out of phase with the other participants, the mat may be rising to meet them and the effect is of meeting a hard surface. All the potential and kinetic energy in the system is transferred to the person, who may be unprepared. Depending on the child’s mass, the energy transfer may be equivalent to falling from 2.2m or 3.4 m equivalent to a fall from a first floor window7. This fact may provide a useful tool to communicate the effect of trampolining to parents and supervisors.
None of this means that trampolines should be banned. A manufacturing standard is probably needed for domestic equipment. And people should be encouraged to have adult spotters and safety nets.
I cannot take that too serious. It purposely try to paint it as a very dangerous activity. Landing out of phase is not the same as landing on a hard surface, at worst you get propelled up way higher than you're comfortable with, and it's certainly possible for 4 children to launch one of them high enough to clear the safety net.
And you know what, that is okay. Because it's one of the less dangerous things children can do that improve their physical understanding and ability. Certainly beats them trying to get on the roof of the playground.
But I agree that safety nets, or trampolines dug into the ground is a very good idea. Actually, both would be the best.
What possible "manufacturing standard" could fix that method of injury you quoted?
"According to the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), 246,875 medically treated trampoline injuries occur annually in the U.S."
If kids want to jump, get them a safe inflatable castle and let them jump inside. Those don't suffer from the trampoline problem you delineated, and frankly are more fun.
The real problem is finding alternatives for things like stairs and bathtubs.
There were eleven trampoline deaths in the US between 1990 and 1995.
http://www.avon.nhs.uk/phnet/Avonsafe/Trampolines/Trampoline...
There were about 100,000 ER presentations in the US in 2007. These are all preventable accidents. And these accidents happened after considerable work had gone into making trampolines safer.
Safety nets help (many injuries happen when people fall off), but here's a passage describing another method of injury:
> 3.5 If a trampolinist lands on the mat when out of phase with the other participants, the mat may be rising to meet them and the effect is of meeting a hard surface. All the potential and kinetic energy in the system is transferred to the person, who may be unprepared. Depending on the child’s mass, the energy transfer may be equivalent to falling from 2.2m or 3.4 m equivalent to a fall from a first floor window7. This fact may provide a useful tool to communicate the effect of trampolining to parents and supervisors.
None of this means that trampolines should be banned. A manufacturing standard is probably needed for domestic equipment. And people should be encouraged to have adult spotters and safety nets.