Trampoline injuries are remarkably common. In the United States, emergency rooms treat over 100,000 trampoline-related injuries per year, a number that has climbed steadily as backyard trampolines and commercial trampoline parks have grown in popularity. The Consumer Product Safety Commission tracked this trend rising from roughly 38,800 ER visits in 1991 to 66,200 by 1995, and the numbers have only increased since then with the explosion of trampoline parks in the 2010s.
Who Gets Hurt Most Often
Young children bear the brunt. The median age of trampoline injury patients is just 5 years old, and 63% of all injuries occur in children under 6. This makes sense: younger kids have less coordination, weaker bones, and less ability to control their movements mid-bounce. They’re also more vulnerable when sharing a trampoline with older, heavier jumpers whose weight generates unpredictable forces on the mat.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under 6 never use trampolines and advises against home trampoline use for kids of all ages. The only exception in their guidance is structured programs with professional coaches and specialized safety equipment.
How Most Injuries Happen
The single biggest cause of trampoline injuries is an awkward landing on the mat itself, accounting for 53% of all cases. Falling off the trampoline causes another 22%, collisions with another person make up 13%, and attempting somersaults leads to 11%. Notably, 77% of injuries happen on the trampoline surface rather than from falling off it, which means enclosure nets, while helpful, don’t prevent the majority of injuries.
Multiple jumpers are involved in nearly three out of four injury cases. One study found that 74% of the time someone got hurt, two or more people were bouncing simultaneously, with as many as nine jumpers on a single trampoline. The lighter person in a multi-jumper scenario is at the highest risk because the mat’s rebound forces become erratic and amplified.
Common Injury Types
Most trampoline injuries involve the limbs. Fractures and sprains dominate, with the arms and legs absorbing the worst of bad landings and falls. In young children, a specific type of shinbone fracture near the knee is particularly common. These compression fractures happen when a child lands with their legs slightly bent and the force drives down through the top of the tibia.
About 12% of these shinbone fractures in children involve the growth plate, which is the soft area near the ends of bones where new growth occurs. Growth plate injuries carry a theoretical risk of uneven bone growth over time, though long-term data on actual outcomes remains limited. Fractures that stay within the bone’s shaft (about 86% of cases) generally heal without complications.
Severe and Catastrophic Injuries
While most trampoline injuries are sprains and simple fractures, a small percentage are life-altering. A 10-year study at a pediatric neurosurgery center found that among children referred for head and spine injuries from trampolines, 43% had confirmed head injuries on imaging, 20% had injuries to the upper neck vertebrae, and 14% had injuries elsewhere in the spine. One child in that series died from bleeding inside the skull, and another was left with lasting weakness in one arm after a severe spinal cord injury.
These catastrophic outcomes are rare relative to the total number of people who bounce on trampolines each year. But they are not as rare as most parents assume, and they tend to result from somersaults or flips where the jumper lands on their head or neck.
Trampoline Parks vs. Backyard Trampolines
Commercial trampoline parks tend to produce more severe injuries than home trampolines. Hospital admissions are more likely after a trampoline park injury, and those admissions involve more surgical procedures, longer hospital stays, and higher costs. In one four-year review, the most expensive trampoline park case cost over $51,000, compared to about $17,000 for the most expensive home trampoline case.
Park injuries also skew toward the lower extremities, likely because the interconnected jumping surfaces and foam pits create unique hazards. The typical park patient is older (median age around 16.5 years) than the typical home trampoline patient (median age around 12.5 years), reflecting the different populations each setting attracts. Full-size trampolines and park trampolines carry higher surgical rates than mini or home versions, and children and females face higher surgical rates than adults and males.
Reducing the Risk
If you choose to allow trampoline use despite the AAP’s recommendation against it, the evidence points to a few clear priorities. Limiting the trampoline to one jumper at a time eliminates the single largest risk factor. Banning flips and somersaults removes the primary cause of catastrophic head and neck injuries. Using an enclosure net reduces the 22% of injuries caused by falling off, though it won’t prevent the majority that happen on the mat itself.
For children under 6, the calculus is straightforward: their bones, coordination, and body weight make them disproportionately vulnerable, and no safety accessory fully compensates for that. Older children and teens face lower per-jump risk but tend to attempt riskier maneuvers, especially in group settings and trampoline parks where the social environment encourages showing off. Supervision matters, but the speed at which trampoline injuries occur (mid-bounce, in a fraction of a second) means even attentive adults often can’t intervene in time.