For years trampolines have dotted suburban backyards. Almost inevitably a neighborhood child would end up with her arm in a cast or more serious head or spinal injury. But now jumping on trampolines is increasingly a commercial service. In San Francisco private businesses are cropping up to sell jumping on trampolines as a recreational activity. With this increased availability of trampolines comes an increased risk of serious injury.
The first trampoline park in the San Francisco area opened in September of last year. The park itself acknowledges that using a trampoline is inherently dangerous. But even in the realm of dangerous activities, these trampoline parks may pose higher than normal risks.
During the period from mid-November through mid-March, ambulances were called to this new park ten times. In comparison neither a nearby rock climbing space nor a gymnastics studio had any reports of ambulance calls in the same time period, according to local news reports.
In one gruesome instance at the new park, an adult couple was getting a tour of the facility while considering holding a party there. The woman was a physically-fit, 28-year-old marathon runner. The employees at the park encouraged her to try to perform a slam dunk in one of the basketball hoops situated above the trampolines.
The staff instructed her to bounce from one trampoline to another towards the basket. On her final jump her knee bent backwards with two loud pops. She had torn her ACL and underwent months of surgeries and physical therapy as she works to recover from her injuries.
Source: The Bay Citizen “Gruesome Trampoline-Park Injuries Leave Fans Undaunted” Elizabeth Lesly Stevens, March 19, 2011