Trampolines are one of the more dangerous pieces of recreational equipment you can own. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons actively discourage home trampoline use, a position that puts trampolines in rare company among common backyard activities. The numbers back up that stance: tens of thousands of trampoline-related injuries send people to emergency rooms every year in the United States, and safety equipment like nets and padding has not meaningfully reduced those numbers.
How Many People Get Hurt
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated 66,200 trampoline-related injuries were treated in hospital emergency rooms in a single year. Nearly 7 out of 10 victims were between the ages of 5 and 14. About 15 percent were between 15 and 24, and just under 10 percent were age 4 or younger. That means children and teenagers absorb the vast majority of the harm.
Within the pediatric population, the highest-risk window is ages 10 to 14, accounting for over 43 percent of injuries. A Canadian study found that among younger children, ages 5 to 9 made up nearly half of all cases. The average age of an injured trampolinist falls somewhere between 7 and 10 years old.
The Most Common Injuries
Fractures and ligament injuries each account for about 36 percent of all trampoline injuries, making them by far the most frequent outcomes. Bruises make up another 20 percent, cuts about 7 percent, and dislocations around 1 percent. The legs and feet take the most damage (44 percent of injuries), followed by the arms and hands (34 percent). Fractures are the leading reason for hospital admission, appearing in 32 to 75 percent of cases depending on the study.
Upper limb injuries are especially common in younger children, who tend to break their falls with outstretched arms. In the pediatric population, fractures dominate the injury profile so consistently that multiple studies across different countries confirm the same pattern.
Head and Neck Injuries
About 9 percent of trampoline injuries involve the head, mostly cuts and scalp bruises. Another 8 percent involve the neck. Most neck injuries are minor ligament strains, but the serious cases are genuinely catastrophic. In one study of 575 patients, two had cervical fractures and one had a dislocation of the upper spine.
The worst-case scenario is real and documented. A 26-year-old man at a trampoline park developed permanent paralysis in all four limbs after diving headfirst into a foam pit. Imaging showed a complete spinal cord injury at the base of his neck, with full dislocation of two vertebrae. Despite intensive rehabilitation, he had no functional recovery at discharge. Cases like this are rare, but they illustrate why medical organizations treat trampoline safety as a serious public health concern rather than routine caution.
Why Multiple Jumpers Multiply the Risk
Having more than one person on the trampoline at the same time is one of the biggest risk factors. Collisions between jumpers and the “double bounce” effect, where one person’s landing amplifies another person’s bounce unpredictably, are well-established injury mechanisms. Collisions produce the highest proportion of head and face injuries, at 38 percent of all collision-related cases.
The lighter person in a pair of jumpers is at the greatest disadvantage. When two people land at different times, energy transfers unevenly, launching the smaller jumper higher or in an unexpected direction. This is one reason young children are so vulnerable on a trampoline shared with older siblings or adults.
Safety Nets and Padding Don’t Solve the Problem
If you’re thinking that a net enclosure and spring padding make a trampoline reasonably safe, the data says otherwise. A study tracking trampoline injuries from 2002 to 2007, years after enclosures became widely available and safety standards were upgraded, found no measurable decline in the injury categories these products are designed to prevent. Falling off the trampoline and hitting the frame or springs together account for about 46 percent of all injuries, and that proportion stayed flat throughout the study period.
Enclosures did reduce injuries from falling off the trampoline in some cases, but this was offset by a rise in “fall on” injuries, where jumpers fell onto the mat surface itself or collided with other users. The net keeps people on the trampoline, but it doesn’t prevent the bouncing-related forces that cause most fractures and sprains. The study’s conclusion was blunt: whatever has been done to improve safety equipment is not yet working.
Trampoline Parks vs. Backyard Trampolines
Commercial trampoline parks might feel safer because of supervision and rules, but the injury profile tells a different story. A four-year hospital review found that park injuries were actually more likely to require hospital admission than home injuries, and they required more surgical interventions. The median age of park injury patients was slightly older (16.5 years compared to 12.5 for home trampolines), but injury types and severity scores were similar across both settings.
The cost difference was striking. The most expensive home trampoline injury case cost about $17,000, while the most expensive trampoline park case reached nearly $52,000, more than three times as much. At the high end, park injury costs were 101 percent higher than home injury costs. Parks may offer wall-to-wall padding and foam pits, but those features introduce their own risks, including the kind of headfirst landings that can cause spinal cord damage.
Why Children Under 6 Are Especially Vulnerable
Young children’s bones are still developing, and their coordination and spatial awareness are limited. They can’t reliably control their body position in the air or absorb the forces of an unexpected bounce. When they fall, they instinctively reach out with their arms, which is why upper limb fractures are so common in this age group. Children under 5 account for nearly 10 percent of all trampoline emergency room visits despite being too young for any recommended trampoline use.
The AAP’s discouragement of home trampolines applies broadly, but the concern is sharpest for young children. Their injury patterns tend to involve more fractures relative to soft tissue injuries, and the biomechanical mismatch when they share a trampoline with older, heavier jumpers creates a scenario where serious injury is predictable rather than surprising. If you have young children and a trampoline, limiting use to one child at a time and keeping children under 6 off the equipment entirely are the most evidence-supported steps you can take, though even those measures don’t eliminate the risk.