J Korean Orthop Assoc.  2018 Apr;53(2):129-135. 10.4055/jkoa.2018.53.2.129.

The Incidence of Pediatric Trampoline Injury: Statistics from a Single Institution

• Shin YW
• Hong CW
• Lee OJ
• Park SY

• KMID: 2410060
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4055/jkoa.2018.53.2.129

Abstract

PURPOSE
Recently, there has been increasing number of trampoline injuries at our pediatric orthopedic clinic and emergency room. Therefore, this study is to analyze the prevalence of the trampoline injuries with emergency room surveillance.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Between September 2015 and February 2017, all patients under the age of 15 years, who visited emergency room of a teaching hospital with trauma and referred to the department of orthopedic surgery, was included; the cause of trauma was analyzed. The severity of injury was also evaluated and compared according to the cause of injury.
RESULTS
There were a total of 1,807 patients under the age of 15 years who visited our emergency room during the study period. There were a total of 71 trampoline injuries (3.9%). There were 28 patients below the age of 5 years, and among them, 14 minor injury were recorded; 43 patients were over the age of 5 years and with 4 minor, 20 moderate, and 19 severe injuries. In the age between 5 and 15 years, the prevalence of mild injury was lower in trampoline injury compared with those of other sports injuries (9.3% vs. 34.0%) and the prevalence of severe injury was higher in trampoline injury (44.2% vs. 26.3%) (p=0.002).
CONCLUSION
Our findings indicate that the incidence of trampoline injury was lower than other country, but it was more severe than injuries from other sports. With increasing incidence of trampoline injuries, parents should be more mindful that trampolines are not safe and stricter supervision may be necessary.

Keyword

trampoline injury; pediatric injury; incidence; injury severity

MeSH Terms

Athletic Injuries
Emergency Service, Hospital
Hospitals, Teaching
Humans
Incidence*
Organization and Administration
Orthopedics
Parents
Prevalence
Sports

Figure

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  Figure 1 (A) Radiography showing broken forearm bones of a 12-year-old boy falling from a trampoline. (B) Unstable forearm shaft fractures were reduced and fixated with flexible nails.

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  Figure 2 Radiography showing a characteristic fracture of a trampoline injury, proximal tibia incomplete fracture, developed in an 8-year-old girl (A), resulting in valgus deformity in need of surgical correction (B).

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  Figure 3 Bar graph showing the difference of severity of a trampoline injury with age, indicating that old age draws more severe injuries compared with younger children. AIS, abbreviated injury scale.

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