New Warnings About Trampoline Park Injuries

You may want to rethink that birthday party your kid wants at the trampoline park because it turns out, they could be as dangerous as you thought. According to frighteningnew research, the way these indoor bounce places are designed - with lots of trampolines bound together -- can create an unsafe transfer of energy that makes surfaces unpredictable and unsafe.

Kids love these jumping spots and parents love having somewhere for them to burn off excess energy, but trampoline parks accounted for nearly 18,000 emergency room visits in 2017.Pete Pidcoe, an engineer and university professor, has spent six years researching the design of trampoline parks and found that the entire thing can turn into one big, bouncing surface. His test mimicking a father jumping on a trampoline with a child reveals the dad transfers 400 pounds of force into the son, which he says would feel like “getting hit with a hammer.”

Utah trauma surgeon Dr. Craig Cook says he’s treated around 100 patients with severe trampoline park injuries including broken legs, spinal fractures, and head trauma. He says these kinds of injuries are like the ones you’d get in a catastrophic auto accident, or like where someone “is thrown off their motorcycle and they fly 100 feet.” Scary right? Of course, trampoline park owners disagree about the danger, but it’s good to know what you’re getting into if you take your kiddos to jump there.

Source:The Stir


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