Despite Popularity Of Trampolines, Doctors Say Kids Under 6 Should Not Be Allowed On Them

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The popularity of trampoline parks for kids is growing, despite the fact that the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons advises that children under the age of six not be allowed on them.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has gone so far as to say that pediatricians should counsel their patients and families against recreational trampoline use altogether.

The issue got a lot of attention this summer, when a 3-year-old boy from Florida suffered injuries so severe that he was placed in a cast from the waist down.

Kaitlin Hill told CBS News her son Colton broke his thigh bone at a trampoline park, and said an orthopedic surgeon told the family that the repetitive pressure from jumping may have caused the fracture.

A study in Pediatrics in August 2016 found that emergency room visits for trampoline park-related injuries has spiked in the U.S.. There were nearly 7,000 trampoline park-related injuries in 2014 compared to about 580 in 2010. That's more than a ten-fold increase.

Many of those were leg injuries, but there were also spinal cord injuries and a skull fracture reported.

The authors of the study noted that the number of trampoline parks across the country increased about seven fold over the years studied.

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