Trampolines can be dangerous - Number of injured children jumps
Curtis Lindsay was having a great time last Sunday bouncing around on the 12-foot trampoline in his backyard. That was until the 16-year-old attempted a stunt. He tried to use the trampoline as a springboard into an above ground pool. The teen broke his back.
Curtis was rushed by ambulance to his local hospital in Ormstown and was then transferred to the Montreal Children's Hospital of the Â鶹AV Health Centre, which specializes in trauma care.
"Curtis sustained a T4 spine compression fracture, basically he broke a vertebra located in his upper back," says Dr. Thierry Benaroch, site director of the Children's Division of Pediatric Orthopedics. "He is very lucky… He just barely escaped being paralyzed from the middle of his chest down."
Curtis was released from hospital yesterday. He will have to wear a back brace for the next six to 12 weeks. He'll need to learn how to function in daily life with his brace. It will significantly limit his movement and activity level. Eventually he may have to undergo a period of rehabilitation to regain his strength and pre-injury level of fitness.
Curtis's injury is just one of many seen in the Children's Emergency Department this summer. With the rise in popularity of trampolines, the Children's has seen a corresponding jump in injured children. So far this year, the Children's ER has treated over 40 kids injured while bouncing on trampolines. "It is only July and we have already surpassed the number of patients seen last summer," says Debbie Friedman, head of the Children's Trauma Program. "Children and teens are sustaining a variety of traumas of varying severity, including broken or sprained ankles, cuts, bruises, forearm and elbow fractures, injuries to internal organs, and head injuries, which can be very serious and frequently occur when two kids collide."
Friedman adds, "We're concerned with the injuries we are seeing. In 1997, the Children's issued a major alert about the dangers of trampolines after a teenager died from a very severe head injury. Trampolines may be a lot of fun, but parents have to realize they can be very dangerous. As a Trauma Centre we do not recommend using trampolines."